The National Kidney Foundation of Malaysia (NKF) wants to help the Malaysian government ramp up its ongoing National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme by offering the use of its vehicles. The organisation understands how crucial it is to achieve herd immunity fast, and the only way the government can achieve this in a timely manner is with help from private organisations and also non-profit organisations like NKF.
Currently, NKF has four buses and three vans which are fully equipped for mobile health screening purposes and are ready to be mobilised. These vehicles are used by the NKF team to provide medical checks like blood pressure, blood glucose, urine test, cholesterol test, body mass index tests and counselling. Since 2008, NKF has screened a total of 619,045 people nationwide.
It has recently been reported that the government will be mobilising 30 vaccination trucks to administer COVID-19 vaccines at the People’s Housing Project (PPR) and construction sites in Kuala Lumpur. This move is done with the aims to speed up the vaccination programme by reaching areas with a high population density. Each truck will be able to administer 100 doses a day.
“I think that this is a very good idea by the government to bring the vaccine to the people instead of waiting for them to register. We at NKF want to do our part to help the government speed up its Immunisation Programme by offering the use of our vehicles,” said NKF Malaysia Chairman Dato’ Dr Zaki Morad Mohamad Zaher.
He added that these vehicles can be used by the government to roll out more mobile vaccination programmes nationwide, such as by targeting PPR’s and those living in rural areas who might find it difficult to travel to the designated centres. Most people living in rural areas may not even be aware of the availability of the COVID-19 vaccine or have failed to register through MySejahtera because they do not own a mobile phone.
“We hope that our vehicles will be able to help reach out to more people and get them vaccinated soon. As the number of cases has risen significantly over the past few weeks, achieving herd immunity and getting the mass public vaccinated is one sure way to help flatten the curve,” said Dr Zaki.
NKF is also volunteering its manpower to the government to help out with the vaccine administration, if necessary. Volunteers from NKF are ready to go through the required government training programme to learn how to properly handle the vaccine and administer it.
