Instead, they must follow their lessons entirely online and will only be allowed to return to physical classes once they have completed their vaccinations, Mingguan Malaysia reported today.

“For all institutions of higher learning, only students who have received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine will be allowed to study on campus as part of hybrid learning,” she was quoted as saying.

Noraini said the directive applies to all private and public universities, including polytechnics, and community colleges, as stipulated in the SOPs (standard operating procedures) established by the National Security Council (MKN).

“The higher education ministry will organise a campaign to encourage students to get the vaccine, in an effort to create a safe environment on campus,” she added.

According to data from the higher education ministry, there are no vaccination records for more than 195,000 students at public institutions.

The figure is lower among private institution students, with around 51,000, or 10.2%, having no such record.

Overall, about 37.5% of all tertiary students do not have a record of their vaccination status based on the ministry’s information.

Therefore, she asked university managements to provide the latest data on student vaccinations immediately.

According to Mingguan Malaysia, Noraini said that she held discussions with health minister Khairy Jamaluddin last week to discuss expediting vaccinations for students.

“The government has now agreed for tertiary students who have not yet been vaccinated to be allowed to walk in at various PPVs for their jabs.

“Active students only need to show their student matric card, while for new students, they need to bring an offer letter from an institution of higher education,” she said.

Currently, the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) has received data from the higher education ministry that shows a total of 547,595 public and private tertiary students having received the vaccines nationwide.