Focus on vaccinating the 13mil who have registered for vaccine, MP tells govt

PETALING JAYA: The government should focus on vaccinating the more than 13 million people who have registered instead of contemplating mandatory vaccinations, Sungai Buloh MP R Sivarasa said today.

Calling the proposal “unnecessary and a complete red herring”, Sivarasa said a better option would be to rope in as many clinics as possible to vaccinate those who have registered for the jabs.

“Just vaccinate the 13+ million people who want to be vaccinated, have registered and are waiting for their doses,” he said on Twitter.

“If you bring on board at least 5,000 out of the 7,000 private clinics and all government health clinics as your primary mechanism, that is about 500,000 (doses) per day.

“We can do 13 million in a month. Mega vaccination centres should be the secondary mechanism.”

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin last week told the Covid-19 vaccine supply access guarantee special committee (JKJAV) to study making vaccinations mandatory, adding that this needed to be considered if the number of registrations for vaccinations remains low and fails to meet the government’s target for herd immunity.

Covid-19 vaccinations are currently not compulsory, with vaccine minister Khairy Jamaluddin saying in January that Putrajaya had no plans to make them mandatory.

Last month, Khairy said mega vaccination centres (PPVs) were still needed because they can handle between 8,000 and 10,000 people a day.

He also said 2,467 out of 7,000 general practitioner clinics had registered under ProtectHealth, of which 1,482 have been officially appointed as vaccination centres that are set to operate from this month. — Free Malaysia Today