PICKids: Sinovac vaccines are available for kids under 12 starting tomorrow

Following the recent conditional approval given to Sinovac vaccines to vaccinate children aged 5-11 years old against COVID-19, Malaysia’s Ministry of Health has announced that Sinovac (CoronaVac) will be available as an option for children starting tomorrow (7th March 2022). However, it will be offered at selected vaccination centres (PPV) handled by the Ministry of Health and healthcare facilities under ProtectHealth.

Sinovac is currently the second vaccine to be offered to children under 12 years old under the PICKids programme and it is available for free. For optimal protection against COVID-19, the Ministry is still recommending Pfizer (Comirnaty) children formulation as the default vaccine for younger children including high-risk kids with comorbidities such as children who are immunocompromised or suffering chronic lung diseases, health diseases, diabetes, and other severe illnesses.

Children who can’t take Pfizer due to health reasons will be offered Sinovac as an alternative by the medical officers. On top of that, parents will also be given the choice to select Sinovac as their preferred vaccine for their children if they do not agree to use Pfizer. If there are any questions, parents are encouraged to get further details from the medical staff on duty.

The Sinovac vaccines for children will be administered at a 4-week interval between the first and second dose. As a comparison, the Pfizer vaccine for children is administered with a longer 8-week interval between the first and second dose. The child must be at least 5 years old on the day of the appointment to be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccination under PICKids. If a child is not yet 5 years old (e.g. 4 years old 11 months), they will be turned down.

According to the Ministry of Health, there’s a rise of COVID-19 cases among children below 12 years of age with over 123,053 positive cases recorded among the age group since January 2022. Some of them were admitted to hospitals and some require intensive care in ICU.

The COVID-19 vaccination for children aged 5-11 years old is also available through walk-in at selected centres. Parents and guardians can also book an appointment slot for their children via the MySejahtera app. As of 5th March 2022, over 1 million children aged 5-11 have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Special Committee of ensuring access to COVID-19 vaccines (JKJAV) has announced that all mega PPVs will shut down on the 16th of March 2022. Walk-in is available at Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil and World Trade Centre in KL, for all age groups including children (5-11 years old), teens (12 to 17 years old) and adults (18 years old and above).

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