PETALING JAYA: Care home operators want more time to pre-register for the Covid-19 vaccine.
The Association for Residential Aged Care Operators (Agecope) has appealed to the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee to allow more time for both licensed and unlicensed care homes to pre-register for the vaccine.
Its president Delren Terrence Douglas also appealed for the committee to provide an on-site vaccine administration plan as well as to allocate at least 30,000 doses for aged care home staff and residents under Phase One of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.
“As operators of aged care centres, old folks and nursing homes, we believe that Covid-19 vaccination is one of our most important tools in battling the pandemic, apart from regular testing and effective infection prevention and control measures,” he said in a statement yesterday.
The deadline for pre-registration is this Sunday.
Douglas also urged all stakeholders to work together to ensure that frontline staff and at-risk residents get their Covid-19 vaccine shots as soon as possible.
He said as of Feb 19, 68.3% of all 1,043 Covid-19 deaths in Malaysia involved those aged 60 years or above, adding that the mortality rate for the older group was 13.8%, over 10 times higher than the national average at 1.2%.
“Patients with multiple co-morbidities too are more likely to succumb to the virus,” he added.