KUANTAN, Feb 7 — Three siblings from Indera Mahkota, here, looked excited and cheerful to receive the COVID-19 vaccine shot under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids), which commenced in Pahang today.
Affan Zareef Mohd Amri, 11, along with his two younger siblings, Ahmad Aeril Zafrel, 10, and Annur Jelita Zahra, five, who were accompanied by their parents, Mohd Amri Abd Basid, 40, and Saidatul Asyikin Nordin, 37, looked relaxed while receiving the vaccine injection until the monitoring process was completed.
Affan Zareef, when met by reporters, said that there was no coercion from his parents because he was ready and could not wait to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
“My siblings and I are not afraid and are ready to be given the shots. It was just a little prick and did not hurt… I want to get vaccinated because I am worried about getting a severe COVID-19 infection,” he said.
Affan Zareef and his two siblings were among 30 children who received the Pfizer vaccine injection at the Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital (HTAA) special vaccination centre (SPPV) here today, which was also attended by HTAA deputy director Dr Rafidah Mohd Salleh.
For Saidatul Asyikin, she decided to take her three children to get vaccinated, in an effort to protect the children from severe COVID-19 infection.
“My husband and I decided to give the vaccine to our children because we want to protect our family, especially my second child, Ahmad Aeril Zafrel, who has asthma, so this is a step to prevent him from getting a serious infection,” said the civil servant.
Private sector employee, Rohaizan Rahman, 41, said that the recent increase in COVID-19 cases prompted her to take her two daughters, Azrieza Qalesya Muhammad Azril Safuan, 11, and Azrieza Qairina, seven, to get vaccinated.
“The government has done its best, the rest we ‘tawakkal’ (put complete trust in Allah). The process is also easy and smooth from registration to monitoring; my children also did not complain about anything; everything is fine,” said the mother of four children.
Meanwhile, Pahang Health director, Datuk Dr Nor Azimi Yunus, in a statement, said that a total of 28,446 out of 197,700 children, aged five to 11, in Pahang have been registered by their parents or guardians through the MySejahtera application as of last Friday.
She said PICKids in Pahang, which started today at HTAA and Pekan Hospital, focused on children with comorbidities first.
Sources: BERNAMA