Following public concerns over empty vaccinations, the Minister in charge of the COVID-19 vaccination effort, Khairy Jamaluddin has announced that everyone is allowed to take a photo or record a video of themselves getting vaccinated. This was announced during today’s press conference to address concerns on the National immunisation programme.
SOP for vaccinators
The COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force will ensure that the SOP for vaccination is enforced at all vaccination centres (PPV) at all times. As announced in May, all vaccinators must show the syringe before and after administering the vaccine.
For AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines, the syringe must contain 0.5ml per dose while Pfizer uses 0.3ml per dose.
To provide greater assurance, all individuals are now given permission to record themselves while receiving the injection. Khairy said this would allow the public to have hard proof and they themselves will have hard proof that they have received the proper dosage for their vaccination.
Prior to this, taking photos and videos are prohibited at most PPVs but some vaccinators may allow you to self-record yourself if you asked for permission.
Only 3 confirmed cases so far
Out of 16 million doses administered, there are 13 police reports made so far and Khairy said most of them have been proven false or inconclusive. He said the CITF will take all complaints seriously and the Royal Malaysia Police has found no evidence that vaccinators are involved with syndicates selling vaccines.
He stressed that the alleged sale of vaccines is still being investigated but there’s no link with blank vaccine incidents.
From the 13 alleged black vaccine reports, Khairy said most of them were settled due to misunderstanding. He added that some police reports were made because the individual didn’t experience side effects or pain at the injection site. Khairy shared from his personal experience that he also didn’t experience any side effects after receiving his Sinovac jab.
For alleged incidents in Bukit Jalil and UCSI PPVs, there’s no evidence to support the claim that the individuals were not vaccinated properly and their only claim is that their arm didn’t feel any ache.
Khairy also said the vaccinator who gave a blank vaccination at a drive-thru PPV in Kedah last week has admitted the error. The nurse claimed to be tired and disciplinary action has been taken.
For the other two cases that took place in Banting and MITEC, the affected individuals were given an extra dose as the vaccinator wasn’t sure if the vaccine was administered properly. So in total, there are 3 confirmed cases so far – one due to negligence and two due to confusion.
Khairy wants to the public understand the context of these cases in order to preserve the integrity of the National Immunisation Programme as well as the thousands of nurses, doctors and frontliners who are risking their lives vaccinating at a rate of 500,000 per day. He said if there are human negligence, one or two cases should not taint the entire programme and we do not blame all the frontliners who are sacrificing themselves on a daily basis to contain this pandemic.
The Minister said he takes every single complaint seriously and he doesn’t want to downplay the problem as one error is too much for him. He said human negligence can happen anywhere in the world like a person receiving 6 doses one go, but he said two wrongs won’t make one right. He assured that the CITF will do better.
He hopes that the Malaysian public and everyone that steps into the vaccination centre will continue to support the hard work of the frontliners and take a video. He said, “When you get your vaccine, look at it, don’t look away, look at it, look at it to make sure you’re getting the right dose, don’t be scared.”
