Doctor calls for volunteers to help register elderly for AstraZeneca vaccine

 

A public health expert is calling for volunteers to help over 5,000 senior citizens who are not tech-savvy to register for the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Dr Helmi Zakariah made the shoutout ahead of the government opening a second round of AstraZeneca registrations this Sunday (May 23). There will be a window of registration until May 26 exclusively for those above the age of 60.

Helmi, who is a member of the Selangor Task Force for Covid-19 (STFC), said he had a list of over 5,000 elderly folks who needed help to book an appointment.

During the previous round of registrations, he only managed to register 10 people from the list.

Those who are interested in volunteering can message Helmi on Twitter via his handle @mohdhelmi.

Meanwhile, the doctor - who also created the Selangkah app - is appealing to the Special Committee for Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) for them to help register those on his list.

"It reeks of health inequity when life-saving meds can only be reached by those who are IT literate," he tweeted.

The government decided to dispense the AstraZeneca vaccine on a voluntary basis, due to some public concerns about rare side effects from the vaccine.

The first round involved 268,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine - and was only open to residents of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

Another 1.1 million doses of the British-made vaccine will be made available starting Sunday (May 23) and will be exclusive to those above the age of 60 for three days until May 26.

It will also be expanded beyond the Klang Valley to Johor, Sarawak, and Penang.

Meanwhile, Helmi said the Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia’s Response and Relief Team (Imaret) was also in need of volunteers.

He said volunteers were needed to help at vaccination centre registration counters, to help with contact tracing and data entry, and to check on people undergoing home quarantine.

Those interested can contact Imaret on Twitter via their account @imaret_my. - Mkini