PETALING JAYA: Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), in collaboration with several non-governmental organisations (NGO), has taken several initiatives to ensure the homeless are not left out of the vaccination programme.
SOLS 24/7 Foundation senior manager Alya Syahida Allias said since March last year, NGO in and around the Klang Valley have been collaborating with DBKL to help the homeless by placing them at various temporary shelters around the city while they wait to be vaccinated.
“We have been providing basic needs such as food and other items to help keep them comfortable, warm and fed. We have also provided mobile clinics and other necessities that may be needed,” she told theSun.
Alya Syahida added that an estimated 200 homeless individuals had been vaccinated recently.
“In my experience helping to promote vaccination, I have come across a few who have raised questions on vaccines and how it benefits them. We explained the process and benefits to these people while those of us who have already received our vaccines shared our journey with them to further convince them to get vaccinated,” she said.
Kechara Soup Kitchen operations director Justin Cheah said the vaccination process for the homeless has progressed better than expected.
“Initially, we were worried about identifying and rounding up the homeless but with the help of DBKL, we have managed to sort that out.”
Cheah added that many homeless individuals were actually very keen on getting themselves vaccinated because they understand that they are vulnerable to the virus due to their living conditions.
He also pointed out that recent negative comments from several netizens regarding vaccination for the homeless was an issue that should not have arisen.
“They are just as human as the rest of us. In fact, it is wise that the government has considered putting them first because they are one of the most mobile populations in Malaysia, thus causing them to be one of the most vulnerable since they are out in the streets every day,” he said.
“This is highly discriminatory and we want to make it clear that we are not trying to raise anyone to a higher category or give anyone priority without reason.”
DBKL noted that the Federal Territories Ministry has also implemented several programmes to help the homeless.
DBKL said a total of three homeless rescue operations were carried out and the individuals were placed at temporary shelters.
“Before being placed at the shelters, they underwent screening to determine their health status and had a swab test done.”
DBKL statistics showed a total of 382 people were taken off the streets to be vaccinated as of May 23.
