THE Orang Asli Development Department (Jakoa) of Perak and Kedah targets to administer at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to 42,363 Orang Asli in Perak by the end of this year.

Jakoa director Harulnizam Abd Rahman said that since the rollout of the vaccination outreach programmes for the Orang Asli community, 2,181 Orang Asli in Perak have received their first jab, while 1,337 have received both doses. 

There have been eight outreach programmes so far, with the first one at the Orang Asli One-Stop centre in Sungai Siput, Perak, which began on June 26.

“We acknowledge that so far the number of vaccine recipients is relatively low compared to their total (numbers). So, to ensure this target is achieved, we will make sure this outreach programme is expanded immediately and may be implemented daily in the areas we have identified.

“However, at this time, our constraints are in terms of vaccine supply and we hope to facilitate this matter with the cooperation of and discussions with the Perak Health Department,” he told a press conference at the vaccination outreach programme for the Orang Asli community in Kampung Chadak, Ulu Kinta, today.

Harulnizam said that the outreach programmes have helped in increasing the Orang Asli community’s understanding and awareness on the importance of vaccination.

He added that the programmes also help overcome the problems faced by the community in registering for their vaccination through the MySejahtera application.

“We see here that they have a special route provided for vaccination. We also understand that some places (Orang Asli villages) do not have Internet access nor do they (residents) own handphones so they are not skilled in using (the) MySejahtera (application). So, we do the registration process for the vaccination manually,” he said. – Bernama, July 25, 2021.