23 Feb 2021 / 21:38 H. Pix for illustration purposes.
KUALA
LUMPUR: Only one out of 20 old folks’ homes in Malaysia have pre-registered for COVID-19 vaccination, leaving residents and staff at other homes at risk of losing out on vaccines or getting them too late, according to officials involved with the vaccination plan roll-out for the elderly.
Malaysian Research Institute on Ageing at Universiti Putra Malaysia (MyAgeing) estimates there are at least 1,000 old folks’ homes in Malaysia, half of which are unknown to the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Social Welfare Department (JKM) and therefore cannot be contacted. To date, only 50 centres have pre-registered for vaccination, according to MyAgeing and MoH.
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PETALING JAYA: Elderly care homes that are not registered with the Social Welfare Department are urged to pre-register their residents and staff with the Health Ministry as this will enable them to obtain the vaccine in the second phase of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.
According to the ministry’s Family Health Development Division’s elderly health sector senior principal assistant director, Dr Noraliza Noordin Merican, unregistered elderly care homes may miss out on the chance to ensure their clients are protected if they stay below the radar.
Dr Noraliza said these senior citizens needed to be vaccinated as they are in the high-risk group, and generally live in relatively confined areas.
Pathogenic microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi are the causes of infectious diseases.
These diseases can spread to humans through a number of ways, e.g. person to person through direct touch, water, food or airborne particles, and through insects such as mosquitoes.
The National Immunisation Programme (NIP) is a government initiative to curb the spread of infectious diseases.
The Health Ministry introduced the NIP in the 1950s by providing free vaccination services to children in Malaysia.
Currently, the programme targets 12 vaccine-preventable diseases, i.e. tuberculosis, hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio,
Haemophilus influenzae type b, measles, mumps, rubella, Japanese encephalitis (only in Sarawak), and cancer caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV).