Phase 2 of the national COVID-19 immunisation program which will include senior citizens (aged 60 years old and above), people with chronic diseases and people with disabilities, will begin starting from 19th April 2021. Eligible recipients will be notified via MySejahtera starting from 5th April.
Phase 2 will begin on 19th April for 8 states namely Kedah, Pahang, Pulau Pinang, Melaka, Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu and Labuan. The other states will begin a few days later as more preparation time is required.
MySejahtera will notify 14 days prior, phone call and SMS reminder 3 days before appointment
According to Khairy Jamaluddin, the minister in charge of the vaccination effort, vaccine recipients will be notified through MySejahtera at least two weeks ahead of schedule. This will be followed by an SMS and call reminder 3 days before your appointment.
The Minister added that recipients will be given the option to agree or to decline the given appointment in the MySejahtera app. He said those who have accepted the appointment are expected to show up at the designated vaccination centre to avoid wastage.
Once a vaccine has been taken out from the refrigeration unit, it can’t be returned. Khairy said once an individual has accepted an appointment, it is their responsibility to show up during the agreed time for vaccination.
As of yesterday, over 3 million individuals categorised under Phase 2 have registered for the vaccine. There are 1,741,935 individuals with comorbidity which represent 56% of total registrations for Phase 2, followed by 1,229,855 senior citizens which makes up almost 40% of total registration under the same phase. A total of 115,249 people with disabilities have been registered so far.
Those who haven’t register can sign up via MySejahtera, Vaksincovid.gov.my or call in at 1-800-888-828. If you have dependents at home, you can help them to register on their behalf on the latest version of MySejahtera.
Interstate travel may be allowed to help dependents get vaccinated
During the briefing on Monday, Khairy has shared that the Special Committee for Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) is having a discussion to ensure that employers will allow employees to go for their vaccination appointment. Companies will not be allowed to prevent their staff from taking time off from work to receive their jab. Khairy said that a decision will be announced soon on whether to make it a recommendation or mandatory for employers to grant their staff leave to get vaccinated.
Khairy also shared that the COVID-19 immunisation task force (CITF) is recommending to the National Security Council (NSC) to allow family members to cross state borders to help their dependents to get vaccinated during their appointment times. He said if an individual is in Kuala Lumpur and his/her parents are residing in Negeri Sembilan or Melaka, the individual should be allowed to go back to their home town to bring their parents to the vaccination centre. Take note that this is still a recommendation and it is subject to approval by the NSC.
On concerns about low registration rate, Khairy said that the current situation is still ok since demand is still higher than supply. He said the supply schedule will be gradual and Malaysia is expected to receive a million doses monthly from July onwards through Pfizer and other vaccine makers.
If we see the supply overtakes demand, the government will have to consider other options to increase registrations. Khairy said right now the situation is still acceptable and Malaysia will continue to encourage more people to register voluntarily.
As of 4th April, a total of 7.9 million individuals have registered for the vaccine which is 32.60% of the targetted population. Meanwhile, a total of 801,733 doses have been administered so far with 287,737 individuals have completed their vaccination with two jabs.
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