Lee (standing, centre) gives a pep talk to the teen vaccinees at PPV Curtin.
MIRI (Sept 26): The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for children aged 12 to 15 here has commenced and would run until this Wednesday (Sept 29).
According to the minister-in-charge of Miri Division Disaster Management Committee (MDDMC) Datuk Lee Kim Shin, the schedule of the programme and appointment dates have been made known to the parents and the guardians by their children’s respective schools.
“The parents or the guardians must be alert on instructions from the schools regarding their children’s actual vaccination time and date.
“Please follow the schedule given and only come to the PPV (vaccination centre) 15 or 30 minutes early to avoid congestion,” said the minister, who conducted a visit to the PPV at Curtin University Malaysia here yesterday.
Lee, who is the state Transport Minister, said based on his observation yesterday, the PPV was a bit packed as some people came as early as 8am, despite their actual appointment times ranging between 11am and noon.
“There were also some teenagers attempting to go for walk-in vaccination, even through their appointments was not scheduled for today (yesterday),” he noted.
Lee stressed that walk-ins at any public PPV in this division – except those in the rural areas – would only be allowed for adolescence aged 12 to 15 years old who were no longer in school.
“In the rural areas, community leaders such the Kapitans, village headmen and longhouse chieftains are requested to identify children in their areas who are in the same age group and are no longer in school, and forward their details to the respective district offices so that vaccination could be arranged for them.”
On another matter, Lee said the MDDMC strove to improve several areas related to the immunisation programme to ensure that the vaccination process could be run more smoothly.
They would include improving the WiFi connectivity at the PPVs and reminding school management to inform students to update the information in their respective MySejahtera app, he added.
Accompanying the minister during the visit were Miri Health officer Dr P Raviwharmman and Miri Hospital director Dr Jack Wong.