GUA MUSANG: Over 5,000 Orang Asli living in the interior areas here are all geared up for the COVID-19 vaccination once the immunisation programme begins late this month.

Kelantan Orang Asli head, Bidi Ronggeng said the settlers in Pos Brooke, Pos Hendrope and Pos Tuel have agreed and welcomed the National Immunisation Programme (NIP).

"The Orang Asli community here will not reject the vaccination since the government through the Ministry of Health (MOH) has recommended that we should get it for our good," Bidi said when met at Pos Hendrop here today.

In fact, he said, he was infected with COVID-19 and it was a scary experience. As such, he had been advising the settlers to take care of their health and comply with the standard operating procedures (SOP) set to curb spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, Kampung Jedip Orang Asli head, Nasir Busu said the delivery of the vaccine to the country tomorrow would bring relief to 300 villagers there.

"Most of us have been kept indoors since the virus outbreak in March last year as we were worried of getting infected. So we feel relieved that the vaccine supply will be here soon," he said.

The first batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine will arrive in the country Sunday, while the NIP first phase implementation for frontline workers will run at the end of this month until April.

--BERNAMA



TAG: COVID-19, vaccination, Orang Asli, Kelantan, MoH