Need to be protected reason for signing up

I AM 66 years old. I live with my 65-year-old wife and my son, who works as an engineer and needs to visit various construction sites.

With the recent offer of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the three of us signed up for it even though it is not our preferred choice. We signed up for the following reasons.

Firstly, my son is exposed to the risk of contracting Covid-19 every time he visits construction sites. He is registered under the third phase of the national immunisation programme, and with the current slow progress in the vaccination effort, it will be many months before he can get his jab. It is unfortunate that his work does not qualify him for early vaccination.

So, for the sake of getting early protection to reduce his risk of getting Covid-19, he opted to take up the AstraZeneca offer.

Secondly, being elderly parents at home, we are constantly living in fear that my son may one day come in contact with the virus and bring it home to us. My wife and I are registered for the second phase, but till now we are still waiting for the date to receive our first dose.

My son has gone through a few self-isolation periods after receiving notification from the health authorities that he had been in casual contact with Covid-19 cases. This has been very stressful for all of us at home.

So, to end this uncertainty over our vaccination date, which is a heavy mental burden on us, we have also signed up for the AstraZeneca vaccine. We just want to be vaccinated so that we can allay our son’s worries every time he comes home after visiting construction sites.

I am sure many of those who signed up for the AstraZeneca vaccine are in the same boat. If given a choice, we would prefer another vaccine, but the slow and uncertain effort and the serious increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in recent weeks, especially in the Klang Valley, have put tremendous pressure on us.

CHAN CH Petaling Jaya