GEORGE TOWN: Response to booster shots among the homeless on Penang island has been slow, says state welfare committee chairman Phee Boon Poh.

       “We have been holding short awareness campaigns by informing them of the walk-in booster vaccine centres but to no avail,” he said.

       Health Ministry has set March 31 as the deadline for senior citizens who are primary recipients of the Sinovac vaccine to get their booster shots.

       Phee said the state had prepared mobile units to administer primary vaccine jabs to beggars and street vagabonds.

       “We are trying to get as many as possible to get their booster shots. However, unlike the homeless who are housed at centres, it is not easy to get the homeless out on the streets to get their booster shots,” he said, adding that the state Health Department’s medical officers had gone to the ground to talk to and convince the homeless, especially the elderly, to get their booster shots.

       Phee said there were about 300 homeless people in the heart of George Town currently, adding that there was no initiative to pick up homeless people from the streets using mobile units or vehicles.