The PH immunisation committee said this was due to the recent detection of new clusters involving elderly care and nursing homes, noting that the risk of death for residents was “very high”.

According to the committee, some 30,000 to 40,000 of the 2.3 million Malaysians above 65 were living across 1,500 care or nursing homes nationwide, operated by 8,000 workers.

It said there was a need for the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV) to prioritise the older groups, as they were more susceptible to severe symptoms and possibly death, due to their age and other underlying diseases.

“Older people who are living in care homes are particularly vulnerable, not just due to their medical condition but also because of their cramped living conditions.

“That is why proactive steps are needed to protect not only the health of the residents but also the employees who care for them,” it said in a statement.

The committee also said that vaccinating the elderly first would help reduce the number of hospitalised patients, which could lower the mortality rate and the burden on medical frontliners.

“Elderly care homes can be super-spreaders of the virus if proactive measures are not taken,” it said.

Malaysia has recorded several cases involving elderly care homes in the last few weeks, with the most recent ones being the Jalan DC and Jalan Cheras clusters in Selangor, and the Jalan Geronggang cluster in Sarawak.

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