PETALING JAYA: Nearly all secondary schools in Malaysia have fully vaccinated 80% or more of their students against Covid-19.
According to the Health Ministry’s GitHub page, 99.6% or 2,433 out of the country’s 2,442 secondary schools have recorded 80% or more full vaccination rates among their students as at Feb 17.
The figures reflect an equally high proportion of adolescents (12- to 17-year-olds) who have received two vaccine jabs.
As at Feb 17, 89.9% of the country’s adolescents have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Malaysia has an estimated 3,111,400 adolescents who make up 9.53% of the country’s estimated 32,657,100 population.
Of the 2,442 secondary schools that have recorded 80% or higher full vaccination rates among their students, 14 have hit 100%.
However, not every adolescent can receive Covid-19 vaccines. Those who may be exempted include the immunocompromised or those with certain severe allergies.
Persons with such health conditions may need to go through a pre-vaccination assessment by a doctor to determine whether they can receive the vaccine.
In terms of fully vaccinated school staff, 90% of secondary schools in Labuan have fully inoculated their teachers and support staff against Covid-19, with Putrajaya recording 72.7% and Sarawak 66.3%,
Sabah (45.7%), Perlis (46.7%) and Terengganu (50%) meanwhile have the lowest percentage of secondary school staff who are fully vaccinated.
Only five secondary schools in the country have vaccinated 100% of their staff with Covid-19 vaccine booster jabs, with all five schools located in Sarawak.
States and federal territories with 80% or more of their school staff inoculated with the booster jabs include Sarawak (92.7%), Labuan (50%) and Kuala Lumpur (36.5%).
Perlis, meanwhile, has the greatest number of secondary schools with less than half of their staff having received booster shots at 76.7%, followed by Sabah (60.2%) and Kelantan (41.6%).
Vaccinating adolescents has proven effective in helping to lower the number of severe Covid-19 infections, says the Health Ministry.
Its Minister Khairy Jamaluddin on Feb 3 said none of the Covid-19 cases in the 190 active clusters linked to the education sector is in Category 4 or 5.
He said it was evident that vaccinations were working when it came to reducing the number of severe Covid-19 infections and that schools can remain open, with closures only to be the last resort.
Most of the education sector clusters between Jan 1 and Feb 2 involved boarding schools, where 108 clusters were detected.