KUALA LUMPUR – A special vaccination centre (PPV) for people with visual impairment at Malaysian Association for the Blind (MAB) in Brickfields here will start operating in the second week of June.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister, Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun said the setting up of the PPV is to facilitate people with vision disability to receive the vaccine and thus expedite the process of vaccination to 80% of the population.
To date, 1,300 visually impaired people have registered with MAB and will receive their vaccine at the PPV.
“The PPV at MAB which will be manned by 20 personnel including doctors, paramedic and Welfare Department volunteers, is expected to handle vaccine shots to 200 people per day.
“This is among the initiatives of the ministry with MAB to ensure no one is marginalised from receiving the vaccine, especially those from this special group,” she told the media after checking out preparation of the PPV here today.
Rina said this effort would be extended to other states to improve access to vaccines nationwide.
She explained that the ministry and MAB would be discussing whether to operate the PPV based on needs to other persons with disabilities after all visually impaired people here have been vaccinated.
“The ministry through the Welfare Department had submitted the names and details of 446,000 disabled people based on the Information Management System for Persons with Disabilities for the second phase of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme,” she said.
At the event today, Rina also handed over 500 food baskets to MAB to be distributed to visually impaired people as preparation for the implementation of the first phase of the full lockdown nationwide from June 1 to 14. – Bernama, May 29, 2021
