73,653 teens in Selangor still unvaccinated

About 73,653 teenagers aged 12 to 17 in Selangor have yet to receive their Covid-19 vaccinations, out of the total adolescent population of 569,100, the state legislative assembly was told today.

State Public Health, Unity, Women and Family Development Committee chairman Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud said 495,447 individuals from the group have received at least one dose of vaccine.

She was responding to a question by Elizabeth Wong Keat Ping (PH-Bukit Lanjan) who wanted to know the number of people in Selangor aged 12 and above who have not been vaccinated.

Siti Mariah said vaccination administration for the group was still in process with efforts by all agencies including the state education department, district education offices and NGOs.

“For those teenagers who face difficulties going to vaccination centres such as teens who do not attend school, Orang Asli teens, or those in rehabilitation centres or shelter homes, the vaccines will be administered via outreach programmes,” she said.

For youths aged 18 and above, Siti Mariah said an estimated 275,237 have yet to be vaccinated, while 4.27 million have received at least one dose, of the total group population of 4,551,800.

“A small proportion of those unvaccinated are those classified as people who cannot receive, or have contraindications to Covid-19 vaccine, while the rest are those who reject the vaccine,” she said.

She said out of 22,314 civil servants, only 132 or 0.59% across 43 state departments and agencies remained unvaccinated as of Nov 16.