GEORGE TOWN: While children are looking forward to the school holidays which officially start today, parents have remained cautious of leaving home without any vaccination for their kids due to the Omicron threat.
Information technology senior analyst Amir Osman Mohd Ibrahim, 45, said he had no plans to bring his children for holiday due to the risk involved.
His 13-year-old eldest son is fully vaccinated but his 11-year-old daughter is not.
“I am not taking any risk for fear of the disease,” he said, adding that he had registered his daughter for vaccination and was still waiting for an appointment.
The latest school break, which is the fourth for the 2021 school term, will last for three weeks until March 20 before the new school term starts. The year-end break, which normally begins in November, was initially pushed to Dec 10 and then delayed further to yesterday due to the pandemic.
Under the current school year format, enrolment of Year One pupils for 2022 will begin in March, and the school term this year will be known as the 2022/23 session.
Bank officer Iris Phuah, 40, said all her family members were fully vaccinated, except her eight-year-old daughter who was still waiting for an appointment.
“We’ll only go somewhere once all my family members are fully vaccinated,” she said.
Civil servant Evelyn Foo, 41, said she did not have plans for a holiday although her only son Lim Sheng Jie, 12, had been fully vaccinated.
“The number of cases is rising. It is better to stay home and let him do his revision during the year-end break,” she said.
Penang health, agriculture, agro-based industry and rural development committee chairman Dr Norlela Ariffin said as of Feb 23, a total of 23.8% of children aged five to 11 in Penang had been vaccinated.
“Penang is ranked third in the country for PICKids (National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children),” she said.
Norlela added that the number of children being vaccinated has increased daily as parents realise the importance of doing so.