Selangor Journal: Selvax 2023 to offer free Covid-19, pneumococcal shots for senior citizens — Exco
SHAH ALAM, April 27 — The Selangor Vaccination Programme (Selvax) 2023 will soon be offering 20,000 doses of Covid-19 and 10,000 doses of pneumococcal vaccines to senior citizens for free in conjunction with World Immunisation Week, which is celebrated from April 24 to 30 this year.
State executive councillor for public health Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud said the state government has allocated RM1.5 million for the initiative in collaboration with Selcare Clinics and the Malaysian Red Crescent Society (PBSM).
“The World Health Organisation (WHO) has set the last week of April as World Immunisation Week to raise public awareness about the importance of immunisation and how it could offer protection to individuals and communities.
“The Selangor government is continuously concern in making immunisation as a means to provide protection and security for the people,” she said on Facebook today.
Dr Siti Mariah said since 2021, the state government has allocated more than RM1 million to provide thousands of vaccine doses for free for the people of Selangor though the Selvax initiative.
“Immunisation through vaccines is a preventive and self-proctection measure that is scientifically proven to be the safest. Hopefully, more Selangor people would remain protected and develop strong immunity,” she added.
On June 30, 2021, the state government launched the Selvax Community and Selvax Industry programmes to expedite the vaccination process for the people in the state during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A total of 1.25 million people in Selangor were to benefit from the programme, which focuses on the low-income group, senior citizens and industrial workers.
The move to set up the Selvax programme was in line with the federal government’s National Covid-19 Immunisation initiative (PICK).