Labuan Covid-19 immunisation task force (CITF) chairman Rithuan Ismail said this represented 94.33% of the 2,593 students registered for the first phase of vaccination, which began on Sept 11.
“All the students, who were accompanied by their parents, were excited to have the opportunity to get the jabs.
“We are quite sure those who have received the first dose will complete the second dose before schools reopen next month,” he told Bernama today.
Rithuan said phase two of the vaccination, for 8,225 students aged 12 to 15, would start soon once the green light was given by the health ministry.
“The total number of children in Labuan eligible for the vaccination, including those out of school, is 10,200, but we will give priority to schoolgoing children.”
He said students whose parents refused to let them get vaccinated would be dealt with by their respective school authorities and the Labuan health department as the number was relatively small.
“There must be ways and means to ensure these unvaccinated students can continue their studies, perhaps through home-based learning.”
On Aug 15, education minister Radzi Jidin said schools will reopen from Oct 3 in stages under the national recovery plan, starting with students in the examination years of Form Five and Form Six.
Labuan has 17 primary and 10 secondary schools, and 99% of the teachers have been fully vaccinated.
Earlier, it was reported that 65,252 teens in Sarawak had received the first dose of the vaccine as of yesterday.
Sarawak chief minister Abang Johari Openg said of the total, 61,271 were aged between 16 and 17 while 3,981 were teens with comorbidities, aged between 12 and 15.
“We are on track before the opening of schools on Oct 3 and those aged 16 to 17 will be fully vaccinated. They will start school in a safe environment.”
Sarawak became the first state to vaccinate its adolescent population when it launched the programme on Sept 8.
Abang Johari said Sarawak today remained the state with high daily Covid-19 cases in the range of 3,000 cases.
“This also includes backlogged cases. That’s why our numbers are high because there were a lot of screenings conducted last month and the results are only being released now.
“Most of these cases are in the asymptomatic and mild symptoms categories. We also have a low hospitalisation rate. This indicates that we are heading towards the endemic phase,” he added.