MELAKA (May 25): The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development has denied allegations by some quarters claiming that senior citizens placed in care centres nationwide have been sidelined in the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.
Minister Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun said a total of 180,933 out of 1.86 million registered senior citizens had received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, with 693,065 people having been administered with the first dose of the vaccine, including those under the Social Welfare Department (JKM) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
“A total of 652 senior citizens housed in institutions under JKM have received the first dose of the vaccine. So, allegations that we have let the elderly [to be sidelined] from receiving the vaccine shots are untrue,” she told the media after witnessing the vaccination exercise involving the residents of Rumah Seri Kenangan Cheng today.
She added that her ministry had also asked JKM officers, who are authorised to hold a joint venture (JV) with the care centre for the elderly, to promote the registration and vaccination exercise among the residents.
By adhering to the whole-of-government concept, her ministry will continue to work with the Ministry of Health (MoH), the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, and the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee (JKJAV) in an effort to encourage vaccination among the elderly.
In a related development, Rina also advised senior citizens not to be influenced by fake news related to vaccines that are prevalent on social media.
“Regarding a viral post of a nurse inciting the elderly to reject the vaccine, I ask for every piece of information we received … in a situation where all the information is at our fingertips, we need to make sure whether the information is true or not.
“Even when I mention [the] nurse, I feel sad because nurses are the frontliners who have been working hard to help the people. So, we don’t want something like this to affect others negatively. At the same time, I will ask the MoH to investigate because we do not want anyone to take advantage of the situation as the country is battling the pandemic now,” she said.
Earlier, a total of 162 senior citizens under the care of Rumah Seri Kenangan Cheng were inoculated under the National Covid-19 Immunisation programme over two days from yesterday.
