COVID-19 vaccine: Khairy explains how appointments are prioritised for Phase 2 and Phase 3

Phase 3 of the National Immunisation Programme has already started in most states, and Malaysia is currently administering an average of over 400,000 doses per day. Although healthy adults under 60 are now getting their jabs under Phase 3, senior citizens and people with chronic diseases under Phase 2 are still being prioritised.

However, there are still a number of individuals that have registered in February but have yet to receive their vaccine appointment. Adding to the frustration, there are people who have registered much later and they have already gotten their jab.

During a press conference held last Friday, we asked vaccine coordination minister Khairy Jamaluddin about the current queue system and whether appointments are still being sent out on a first-come-first-served basis.

Khairy explained for Phase 2 appointments, registrants are prioritised based on their age and comorbidities regardless of when they are registered. The queue starts from the higher age group and then it goes down. He explained if a 90-year-old registered today, they will still be prioritised for the vaccination.

However, once that pool of appointments is exhausted, appointments will be given based on a first-come-first-served basis.

Khairy shared 3 million people have registered on MySejahtera between the 23rd to 28th of February 2021. From this pool, roughly 2 million have gotten their vaccination while 350,000 people have already received their appointments. He said that goes to show that the algorithm is pushing out appointments based on the date of registration.

Unfortunately, he didn’t provide details of the remaining 650,000 people that have registered in February.

2.6 million adults in Klang Valley to get vaccinated by 1st August

For those residing in KL and Selangor, all remaining adults should be getting their appointments soon under Operation Surge Capacity. To achieve this, they are ramping up their vaccination capacity from 180,000 vaccinations per day to 272,000 vaccinations per day in the Klang Valley.

As of 15th July, 3.5 million adults in the Klang Valley have received at least one dose and the COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) aims to get all remaining 2.6 million adults vaccinated with one dose by 1st of August.

For the final batch of 1.3 million vaccinations under Operation Surge Capacity, 250,000 vaccinations will be handled by the Selangor state government’s Selvax programme.

Walk-in for Senior Citizens now available in the Klang Valley

Meanwhile, all senior citizens in the Klang Valley are allowed to walk-in to get their vaccine shot since yesterday, 17th July. This is only applicable for individuals aged 60-years-old and above that have not registered or have not received their appointment. Senior citizens that have already gotten their appointment are urged to stick to their given schedule.

Walk-in open to all in the Klang Valley after 1st August

If you’re staying in Kuala Lumpur or Selangor, and still haven’t receive an appointment by 1st August, all vaccination centres will be open to walk-in after Operation Surge Capacity. All Klang Valley residents who are not in the system including Malaysians, non-citizens and undocumented migrants will be able to walk in to get their vaccine after 1st August.

Single digital certificate

When it comes to digital vaccine certificates, Khairy said his ministry has discussed with all state governments including Selangor that there will only be one digital certificate under MySejahtera. This means regardless if you got your vaccination under the National Immunisation Programme or Selvax, you will be able to prove your vaccination with the MySejahtera app.

As mentioned by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, Malaysia plans to loosen restrictions for fully vaccinated individuals. A decision will be made next week and he hinted that individuals that have received two doses may be allowed to cross districts and go shopping. With more people getting vaccinated, restrictions for more economic sectors and social activities could be lifted provided that the number of new COVID-19 cases is under control.

Individuals that have received two vaccine shots must continue to observe the current SOPs including wearing face masks and social distancing. Fully vaccinated individuals are still at risk of getting infected but they would have a lower risk of experiencing severe COVID-19 symptoms.

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