BUTTERWORTH (Bernama): An elderly couple here is grateful for the house-to-house vaccination exercise for chronically bedridden patients which has made it so much easier for them to receive their vaccine shots.

       Ali Jafary, 69, and his wife Fatimah Mat, 63, have been prepared to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, but Ali's chronic illness rendered him bedridden and made it difficult to get to the vaccination centre (PPV) at the nearest health clinic.

       Fatimah said although she and her husband were eager to get vaccinated to protect themselves, they had no children to take them to the PPV.

       "My husband is too weak to get up and just lies on the mattress because he has chronic illnesses such as stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I myself have some illnesses and that's why we are both really looking forward to getting this vaccine.

       "We’re not afraid of the needles. We also realise how important the vaccine is in protecting us from getting sick. We’ve heard a lot on television that the Covid-19 can be fatal and my husband was always asking when we could get the vaccine," said Fatimah when met by Bernama at her house in Taman Desa Murni here.

       Through the programme implemented in the Sungai Dua constituency, the first dose of Pfizer vaccine given by the mobile vaccination unit of the North Seberang Prai District Health Office involved bedridden senior citizens carried out via house-to-house.

       Ali, a retired soldier, hopes that more senior citizens who are bedridden and suffering from various illnesses and categorised under high-risk groups will receive the vaccine at home given their circumstances.

       "Thank you to everyone who came to my house to give the vaccine to us. Don’t be afraid, the jabs don’t hurt and we don’t feel anything after that,” he said.

       Another chronic patient who has been bedridden for the past 10 years Kamaruddin Aziz, 68, is also grateful to be able to get the Covid-19 vaccine at home.

       "Thank God, I finally got the Covid-19 vaccine. I always saw this on television and didn't expect to be able to get it because I am bedridden,” said Kamaruddin who lives with his wife, Azizah Ahmad, 73, in Taman Desa Murni.

       Meanwhile, Sungai Dua assemblyman Datuk Muhammad Yusoff Mohd Noor said his office wished to thank the SPU District Health Office for taking the initiative to provide vaccines to bedridden patients in its area, adding that 30 senior citizens had received vaccines through the pilot project in Penang.

       "According to the medical team, this Sungai Dua constituency 'pilot project' is expected to be extended to other areas in an effort to ensure that bedridden patients also receive the Covid-19 vaccine in our efforts to curb the spread of the pandemic," he said.

       The mobile vaccination team comprised two medical officers, two nurses and two assistant medical officers. - Bernama