GEORGE TOWN – The Health Ministry is looking for Malaysian volunteers to take part in the Covid-19 vaccination trial scheduled to start soon in the country.
However, a doctor at Seberang Jaya Hospital in Penang told The Vibes that medical staff at the hospital have not been briefed on the volunteer vaccination programme, and instead were only told that the vaccination for frontliners will start in February.
The ministry’s Institute for Clinical Research Malaysia (ICRM) on its website said nine government hospitals have been selected to implement the volunteer vaccination programme.
These are Sg Buloh Hospital and Ampang Hospital in Selangor, Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital and Taiping Hospital in Perak, Penang General Hospital, Seberang Jaya Hospital, Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital and Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital in Kedah, and Sarawak General Hospital.
For more information, the public can visit the ICRM Facebook page.
The volunteers must be healthy and aged 18 or above to be eligible for the programme.
ICRM added that the volunteer programme is aimed at contributing to the government’s effort to look for a vaccine that is effective and safe.
It said that after vaccination, volunteers may face the risk of swelling, skin redness, pain, itching at the vaccination site, fatigue, fever, and diarrhoea.
Penang Health Department director Datuk Dr Asmayani Khalib could not be reached for comment. – The Vibes, January 16, 2021
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