Malaysians waiting for their COVID-19 jabs at the Borneo Convention Center Kuching on Sunday had one more reason to be anxious – a tyrannosaurus rex showed up.
But they didn’t have to panic at all since it was only fitness influencer Kenny Sia in reptile disguise. He was all dressed up in a full dinosaur suit for his appointment, much to the amusement of other people and medical workers at the vaccination center in Kuching.
“Rather than wearing only face masks or face shields, I decided to go the whole way. The whole suit is effectively a PPE (personal protective equipment) – it’s one of those overall suits,” he told Reuters.
“I know the frontliners there are working day and night, vaccinating 5,000 to 6,000 people a day, so they probably are very tired. And anything that can lift their mood, I’ll be happy to do it,” he was quoted as saying.
After this article was published, Sia told Coconuts that while he did expect to get some attention from people at the center, he did not foresee getting called up by reporters. And for the record, he did unzip the costume to get the injection.
“The vaccine won’t work if it just goes into a dinosaur skin, right? There’s a zipper in the front of the suit. I simply exposed my arm for a while to get jabbed, then I’m back into dinosaur mode again!” he said.
Sia shared photos and a video of him at the Sinovac vaccination center as people looked at him, including some who filmed him with their camera phones.
View this post on Instagram
Malaysia has vaccinated nearly 10% of the population, faster than most of its neighbors, although the number of reported infections remains high.
The country reported 8,754 new cases on Monday, taking total infections to 844,870, the third-highest in Southeast Asia after Indonesia and the Philippines.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with more comments from Kenny Sia.
Other stories:
Malaysian health minister mistakes Spanish Flu for Spanish Fly during university talk
Malaysians hit out at ‘useless’ Azmin Ali on Austrian minister’s social media post
Reader Interactions