OKU Sentral vaccine centre to roll out shots for 40,000 people over 5 months

KUALA LUMPUR – Forty thousand persons with disabilities (PwD) would be able to be inoculated through the OKU Sentral National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme drive-through vaccination centre in the next five months, more than doubling the initial target recipients of 13,500.

OKU Sentral chairman Datuk Ras Adiba Mohd Radzi said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba, after a walk-through of the facility in Ara Damansara, Petaling Jaya, yesterday, had requested that the centre increase its jab administration capacity.

“We are pleased to announce that the minister has conveyed to us that he is happy with our ability to follow the SOPs (standard operating procedures) as well as our ability to roll out an immunisation programme for OKU (PwD).

“We are also pleased to announce that the minister has requested that we increase our capacity at this first OKU (PwD) drive-through vaccination facility, and, over the next few weeks, we will look at increasing our capacity to 400 (shots) per day,” Bernama reported her as saying in a statement yesterday.

Adham, meanwhile, spent several hours with the team of medical personnel and volunteers viewing the facilities yesterday.

“Daily vaccine allocation for this drive-through PPV will be increased to 400 per day gradually. This is to accommodate the total number of vaccine recipients, which will be increased to 40,000 specifically for this drive-through PPV,” he was quoted as saying in the press release issued by OKU Sentral. 

“I was informed that current capacity is between 80 to 160 doses per day, hence, I would like to increase it to support the community.”

Ras Adiba said that Adham realises that this is a valuable contribution to the overall immunisation programme.

After the centre achieved the initial results, the minister felt that it can scale up operations while still maintaining correct SOPs and adherence to safety procedures, as well as dealing with the unique needs of the OKU community, she said.

“Increasing the allocation for vaccinations for this OKU Sentral drive-through shows the government’s continued commitment to our community, especially persons with disabilities who have been heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic,” she said.

The OKU Sentral drive-through facility began vaccine roll-out on Wednesday with 80 vaccination shots given out per day until today, before increasing its capacity to 160 to 200 shots per day from Monday onwards for the next five months.

The current roll-out is based on registrations received by OKU Sentral, of which 13,500 PwD will be given their vaccination appointments through the MySejahtera application.

Registration via OKU Sentral’s Google Form for this round of vaccination is currently closed, but will be reopened soon to accommodate the new target of having 40,000 people vaccinated within the next five months. – The Vibes, June 18, 2021