KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 — Starting September 23, children between the ages of 12 and 17 can go to any of the 156 centres set up by the Health Ministry nationwide for Covid-19 vaccination.

Appointments for the adolescent immunisation programme will be decided by schools which will then inform parents of the date and time.

"This is scheduled to start on September 23 involving all teenagers including those not schooling. All they need is to walk-in to a PPV near their homes.

"However, if the quota for vaccines is finished at a particular PPV they will be given an appointment for the next day or at the closest private clinic,” Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali said in a statement today.

"For those in higher learning institutions aged 18 and above, they can also walk-in and show their student cards. They must be accompanied by a parent or guardian for consent.

"Those in schools who have appointments for their vaccination from their schools must make sure they keep the appointment and are not allowed to walk-in to any integrated or public PPV,” he added.

As a measure to reduce congestion at the PPVs, only one parent or guardian is allowed to accompany the child or children to be vaccinated.

The Health Ministry advised the children to have a good breakfast and drink lots of water prior to vaccination.

Parents are asked to make sure the children do not overexert themselves for at least a week after vaccination.

The adolescent vaccination programme started nationwide on September 20. To date, 303,186 juveniles have received one dose of the vaccine.

Sabah leads with 118,141, followed by Sarawak (88,473), Kedah (19,453), Kelantan (17,413), Johor (16,019) and Labuan (2,523).

*An earlier version of this article contained an error which has since been rectified.