Longing for prayers at mosque, 101-yr-old man agrees to get vaccinated

Longing for congregational prayers at the mosque has finally driven a 101-year-old Malaysian man, Che Ismail Che Tahir to agree to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Che Ismail, who lives in Kampung Gong Kijang in the Malaysian state of Terengganu appeared at the integrated vaccine administering centre at the Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), accompanied by […]

Longing for congregational prayers at the mosque has finally driven a 101-year-old Malaysian man, Che Ismail Che Tahir to agree to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Che Ismail, who lives in Kampung Gong Kijang in the Malaysian state of Terengganu appeared at the integrated vaccine administering centre at the Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), accompanied by his grandson, Mohd Jailani Harun, 52, and two great-grandchildren.

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Mohd Jailani said his grandfather had received the appointment for vaccination during the first phase for senior citizens but was not ready for it at the time due to the lack of exposure to its importance.

“But we never gave up hope of persuading grandpa to get vaccinated in order to protect his health. We explained to him that after getting two doses of the vaccine, he would be able to join the congregational prayers at the mosque or surau.

“He finally agreed to get vaccinated and coincidentally, I saw a post on Facebook two days ago that UniSZA is giving the opportunity to individuals who have not received the vaccine to come here for a walk-in vaccination. Alhamdulillah, everything has been made easier,” Mohd Jailani told reporters.

There have been 1,640,843 infections and 15,211 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began.

Malaysia has administered at least 32,635,907 doses of COVID vaccines so far. (BARNAMA)