KUCHING: Parents have been urged to avoid exposing children to COVID-19 even after they have been vaccinated.
Deputy Premier Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian said many children were yet to be vaccinated and they were at great risk, especially in the advent of the highly contagious Omicron variants.
“Children with COVID-19 can get serious symptoms. We have seen children with COVID-19 admitted with high fever complicated by convulsion, chest infection that is so serious that it requires high level of oxygen support, and upper airway obstruction.
“Then when the affected children get better from their initial COVID-19 illness, it does not mean the danger is over. The dangerous period continues for the next two to 12 weeks after the initial infection.
“It applies to every affected child, no matter how trivial his or her initial illness symptoms (be it only a runny nose, light cough or sore throat). Even children with asymptomatic infection are at risk,” he told New Sarawak Tribune when contacted yesterday.
Dr Sim said these affected children were at risk of developing a life-threatening complication – multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) that could damage vital organs, particularly the brain, heart, liver and kidneys.
“The unfortunate children will need ICU treatment and their damaged organs, particularly the heart, may not recover fully even after they survive MIS-C,” he warned.
Dr Sim, who is also the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) advisor, was prompted for comments on Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali’s remarks in advising parents not to bring their children to Ramadan bazaars.
Like adults, children could contract COVID-19 that affected their mental and physical health as well as their learning or school performance too, he said.
“Again, it is regardless of the initial COVID illness severity. Children are our future. Please don’t let long COVID affect their future.”
(‘Long COVID’ is a term to describe illness in people who have either recovered from COVID-19 but still report lasting effects of the infection or have had the usual symptoms for far longer than would be expected.)
Therefore, it was crucial for parents to try not to have their children infected by the virus at all, he added.
“If they have been infected, please be even more vigilant and try not to have them infected for the second time. The second infection may not necessarily be a less serious one,” he said.
Dr Sim also urged parents who were yet to vaccinate their eligible children to do so, as vaccinating them could reduce the chance of getting the infection and the risk of MIS-C and long COVID.
