By Corina Tan
Photo Credit: hxyume/ Getty Images
Malaysia has moved to include Covid-19 vaccination for children aged 5 to 11 under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children, also known as PICKids. As of February 15, a total of 206,748 children have received the first dose. Children in this age group make up 11.1% of the country’s population and their inclusion into the program comes at a crucial time. As at February 2022, Malaysia has seen a consistent rise in daily Omicron numbers, with a total of 8.14% of cases involving children of this age.
Universiti Malaya epidemiologist Prof Datuk Dr Awang Bulgiba Awang Mahmud said,
“Vaccinating children has been shown to help greatly reduce the incidence rate of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) in adolescents, and this phenomenon is likely to happen too with children aged 5 to 11.”
“Children who are not vaccinated will face an increased risk of infection and if infected, face an increased risk of having more severe disease and of transmitting the infection to others around them,” he added.
“By completing the Covid-19 vaccination for this age group, the children would help shield their parents, grandparents and the surrounding community from infection due to transmission protection from vaccination,” he said.
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Prof Dr Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh, who is with the Health Economics and Public Health Department of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, said that “Although Covid-19 in children is generally milder than in adults, some kids infected with the coronavirus can get severe lung infections, become very sick and require hospitalisation, and a few may die. This is especially important to remember in light of the Delta and now the Omicron variant, which is more contagious than other coronavirus variants, more difficult to detect, and can still lead to long Covid among children,” she said.
‘Long Covid’ is a condition where people who have recovered from the disease still suffer persistent symptoms such as fatigue, breathlessness, and neurocognitive difficulties. Additionally, children infected with Covid-19 that develop rare complications such as multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MISC) may require intensive care or suffer lifelong symptoms that affect their health and well-being.
She added that children with underlying medical conditions such as asthma, obesity, cancer, as well as those who are immune-compromised with conditions such as SLE (systemic lupus erythematosus), or are insulin-dependent diabetics, malnourished, have heart issues, or are disabled, are at a higher risk of developing severe illness from Covid-19. She also indicated that cases among children have been seen to increase in states with low vaccination rates and among the unvaccinated community.
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Malaysian Medical Association president Dr Koh Kar Chai said the country should aim to vaccinate as many children as possible and parents should arm themselves with the appropriate knowledge on the benefits of vaccination.
“Most of the adult population are already vaccinated, leaving the young ones without the protection of the vaccines. Parents should not rely on unverified postings on social media. They should speak to their family doctor to clear any doubts they have on the vaccination of children,” he said.
While vaccination fears remain a significant problem in some parts of the community, the Health Ministry together with various health organisations are actively working to dispel unfounded fears and unverified information. The importance of the whole community receiving protection from Covid-19 is paramount, and vaccinating children could be key in the fight against this rapidly spreading disease. The success of PICKids would also enable schools to remain open and provide for less interruption to education, which has been severely disrupted since the beginning of the pandemic.
