KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 — “I am not afraid to get the vaccine shot, we all need to be vaccinated to protect ourselves and prevent others from getting infected,” said retired teacher Md Yusof Abdullah, 62, after attending the Ketereh Parliamentary Covid-19 Vaccination Tour Programme ‘Mari Pakat Cocok’, recently.
Md Yusof is among the thousands of people who has started to accept the Covid-19 vaccine, after getting accurate information on immunisation and vaccines, although like others before this, he was influenced by the various fake news spread by certain parties.
Apart from encouraging the public to register through the MySejahtera application, several other approaches have been taken by the government, community leaders and non-governmental organisations to make the people aware of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, including using the different dialects according to localities, through Friday sermons and even loudspeakers and social media such as WhatsApp.
In the sub-district of Dong in Raub, Pahang for example, before the movement control order was implemented the village headman and leaders had walked from house to house to meet as many residents as possible to ask if they had registered as vaccine recipients and if they haven’t, helped them with the registration.
Efforts to further promote the vaccination drive especially in rural areas were also seen being carried out by elected representatives, among them the Hulu Terengganu Parliamentary Office which took the initiative to offer cash reward of RM10,000 to any of the state constituencies which managed to record the highest percentage in vaccination registrations.
Hulu Terengganu MP Datuk Rosol Wahid said he also visited the vaccination centres and participated actively to create awareness on the importance of vaccination in the parliamentary constituency which has now recorded over 31,000 registrations.
Kuala Krai MP Abdul Latiff Abdul Rahman meanwhile said, his service centre machinery was mobilised to assist the vaccine registration process since last April and he together with the village heads had made house-to-house visits to assist in the registration process either manually or through MySejahtera.
Vaccine registration counters were also opened in market areas such as at Pasar Peringat, Ketereh and Kok Lanas around Ketereh parliamentary constituency by its MP Tan Sri Annuar Musa with the help of Umno Youth, Wanita and Puteri wings to encourage residents to take the vaccine.
In Kulim, Kedah, Bandar Baharu assemblywoman Datuk Norsabrina Mohd Noor said the false information spread by anti-vaccine groups drove her together with the local authorities, Civil Defence Force to go to the villages to provide information on the importance of vaccines.
Meanwhile Bukit Pinang assemblyman Wan Romani Wan Salim said with the cooperation of Tualang and Telok Jamat Mosques community, he had assisted the villagers with the vaccine registration.
“The Information Department, volunteers, Village Development and Security Committees (JPKK) were also involved and the list of names will be submitted to the district health clinics,” he said.
The government’s determination is also seen through its efforts in the rural and interior areas, where the parties involved were forced to travel by boat, helicopter, ferries and four-wheel drive vehicles to ensure that no one is left out of this massive immunisation programme. — Bernama
