Melaka Hospital deputy medical director Dr Mohd Rosli Tompang said the special PPV at the mosque, which is located about 600m from the hospital, will be able to facilitate any emergency arrangements in the event of high-risk patients suffering from side effects after their vaccine injections.

“These high-risk patients will be monitored after receiving their jabs. If there are no problems, they will be allowed to return home but if they display any side effects after the injection, they will be sent to the Melaka Hospital for follow-up treatment,” he told Bernama, here, today.

He said the three criteria for high-risk patients selected to take injections at the special PPV were patients with a history of severe allergies to drugs, severe resistance such as cancer patients and those with tendencies to bleed.

Rosli said the special PPV which commenced operations yesterday will close on Aug 30, adding that between 150 and 396 high-risk patients were expected to receive their Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

He said the special PPV will operate from 7.30am to 4pm, Mondays to Fridays, with vaccine recipients selected from a list of patients receiving treatment at government and private hospitals.

“A staff of 51 will be on duty for the duration of the special PPV’s operation, and there will be six to 12 of them administering the vaccine injections simultaneously,” he added.

Meanwhile, vaccine recipient KS Vijayalakshimy, 71, who is a breast cancer patient said the opening of the special PPV helped chronic patients like her to receive their vaccinations faster and reduced worries about the side effects of the vaccine.

“I arrived at about 9.30am and was vaccinated within 15 minutes. The health staff helped a lot to give a clear explanation about the vaccine injection,” said Vijayalakshimy, who is also the National Cancer Society of Malaysia Melaka branch clinical support volunteer head.

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