PETALING JAYA, Mar 16 (Sin Chew Daily) — While five dialects have been used in Singapore to explain COVID-19 vaccination to members of the public, a doctor here has made two video clips to explain the vaccination program in two dialects, Hokkien and Hakka, for the senior citizens.

Even though the second phase of national COVID-19 immunization program is scheduled to start in April for senior citizens aged 60 and above to receive their jabs, many still have no knowledge about the vaccines.

Dr Lim Ren Jye made two short video clips in two dialects last month to help senior citizens understand more about the vaccination.

In the five-minute clip, Lin presented simple slides to explain the effectiveness and the safety of the vaccines, reasons for senior citizens to receive the injections and how to register for the vaccination.

He also reminds members of the public not to be like 'the Superman who walks around and joins several groups to chat with friends in red underwear' after taking the injections.

"We still need to wear face masks, practice social distancing and wash hands frequently after taking the injection, as the vaccine will take a while to kick in," he said.

In the Hokkien video clip, he cited the popular phrase of 'going all out in order to win' from a popular Hokkien song 'Ai Piah Cia Eh Yia'.

So far, the two short YouTube clips have attracted 5,000 viewers, more than 300 likes and 200 shares.

Dr Lim told Sin Chew Daily many senior patients asked him whether to be vaccinated or not when they visited him.

He said many were doubtful about the vaccines as they had been misled by inaccurate information.

"From the way they ask, many do not trust the vaccines. They also search online to find out the side effects, the conspiracy theory and how reliable the China-made vaccine is," he said.

Dr Lim, who is a Hokkien, also discovered that the senior citizens were not attracted by the information written in Chinese and English.

Hence, he mooted the idea of explaining COVID-19 vaccines in dialects.

He made the first clip in Hakka and uploaded it to the social media.

Three days later, he made a second clip in Hokkien.

Many netizens commented that they shared the clips with their elders at home. Some of Dr Lim's classmates also told him their parents had changed their minds after watching the videos.

"A primary school classmate told me his parents were not keen to be vaccinated, but after watching my videos, they were willing to take the injection, saying that Dr Lim had made a good presentation," he said.

Dr Lim said many laughed at his clumsy Hokkien after watching the video clip.

"I am fine with that. I hope the viewers are happy and feel relaxed after watching my videos. If they can remember some parts of the clip such as the superman who is not supposed to be flying around in red underwear, that should be good enough," said Dr Lim.