Aged care centres need more time to pre-register for vaccination plan

Its president Delren Terrence Douglas said longer time is needed to provide an on-site vaccination plan, and to allocate at least 30,000 doses for aged care home staff and residents under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme.

He pointed out as operators of aged care centres, old folks' homes and nursing homes, the association was of the view that the vaccination is among the important tools in battling the COVID-19 pandemic, apart from regular testing as well as effective infection prevention and control measures.

"AgeCOpe is looking forward to work with the Ministry of Health, the Social Welfare Department, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, as well as all related federal, state government agencies, departments and task forces to ensure our premises are safe and in compliance with the industry's standard operating procedures (SOPs)," he said in a statement today.

In the meantime, Delren also welcomed the government's plan to initiate a compensation scheme for those who may experience adverse side effects from the COVID-19 vaccination.

The National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme is implemented in three phases starting Feb 24, with Phase 1 from Feb to April 2021 for the frontliners involving 500,000 people.

The Phase 2, from April to August, will involve senior citizens aged 65 and above, the high-risk groups and the disabled involving some 9.4 million people, while Phase 3 from May this year to February 2022 will cover both Malaysians and non-citizens, aged 18 and above, targetting more than 13.7 million people.