Public should not fear COVID-19 vaccine - Early recipients

Clement Marai Francis, 36, a driver at the Putrajaya Health Office said he was lucky to be inoculated considering his job to transport COVID-19 patients was incredibly risky.

“I don’t feel anything when receiving the vaccine shot and the people should not be afraid. I take the vaccine because I want to protect my family.

“Now I don’t have to worry to interact with them after returning from work,” he told reporters at the Putrajaya Health Office here.

Clement was among the early recipients of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shots after Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, as the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme officially started today.

Besides Muhyiddin and Clement, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah and three other Health Ministry’s (MOH) personnel, Dr Tan Yee Ling, Khairul Asraf Mohd Yasin and Sheilla Mellissa Sikinwere, also received their vaccine shots today.

Dr Noor Hisham, who is among the key persons in the battle to flatten the COVID-19 curve in this country, said he did not experience any side effects after receiving the vaccine shot.

“This (National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme) is the beginning of the end of COVID-19 infection in the country,” he said.

He added that the MOH would monitor all vaccine recipients via the MySejahtera application and any complications would be reported directly to them.

For Khairul Asraf, an assistant medical officer at the Putrajaya Health Office, he was thankful to be among the early recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine and hoped all frontliners would take the vaccine as well.

“We have given our best efforts and we need to trust in Allah,” said Khairul Asraf who has been involved in the prevention and management of COVID-19 since March last year.

Meanwhile, Putrajaya Health Office’s matron, Lina Ibrahim, 49, who administered the vaccine to the Prime Minister was thankful and relieved for being able to fulfil the responsibility entrusted upon her.

“I was quite nervous then because it was the Prime Minister. Alhamdulillah, everything went well,” she said.

The National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme themed “Protect Oneself, Protect Everyone” will be implemented in three phases, with the first phase from February to April 2021 for 500,000 frontliners.

Phase two from April to August is for senior citizens aged 65 and above, high-risk groups and persons with disabilities involving 9.4 million people, while phase three is from May 2021 to February 2022, for those aged 18 and above, covering more than 13.7 million people.