KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — Malaysia is among the countries with the fastest adolescent Covid-19 vaccination rollouts in the world, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

He said in less than two months, 80 per cent of adolescents, aged between 12 and 17, have received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

"One of the fastest adolescent Covid-19 vaccination rollouts in the world.

"Thank you, @DrNoorAzmi (Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali), @DrMahHS (Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon) and everyone at CITF-A. #LindungDiriLindungSemua,” he said in a Twitter post today.

Dr Noor Azmi is the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force - Adolescent (CITF-A) chairman while Mah was previously responsible for handling the vaccination for the group. 

Based on the Health Ministry’s data on the CovidNow portal, a total of 1,367,216 individuals or 43.4 per cent of adolescents aged 12 to 17 years have completed their vaccination as of yesterday.

Another 2,524,156 individuals were administered at least the first dose of the vaccine since the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) for the adolescent group was launched on Sept 8.

As for the adult population, a total of 22,084,594 individuals or 94.3 per cent have completed their Covid-19 vaccination as of yesterday, while 97.3 per cent or 22,792,916 individuals have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

In addition, 235,607 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were dispensed yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of doses administered under the PICK that was launched on Feb 24 to 48,673,215. — Bernama