She said 180,933 out of 1.86 million registered senior citizens had received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, with 693,065 people having received the first dose, including those under the social welfare department (JKM) and NGOs.
“A total of 652 senior citizens housed in institutions under JKM have received the first dose of the vaccine. So the allegations that we have let the elderly (be sidelined) from receiving the vaccine is untrue,” she told the media after witnessing the vaccination exercise involving the residents of Rumah Seri Kenangan Cheng here today.
She added that her ministry had also asked JKM officers, who are authorised to hold a joint venture 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 health ministry, the science, technology and innovation ministry, and the special committee on Covid-19 vaccine supply access guarantee, in an effort to encourage vaccination among the elderly.
In a related development, Rina 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 asked 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 ‘nurse’, I feel sad because nurses are 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 health ministry 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, 162 senior citizens under the care of Rumah Seri Kenangan Cheng were inoculated under the national immunisation programme over two days, starting yesterday.
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