RM70 mil not solely for Covid-19 vaccine portal, Khairy clarifies

KUALA LUMPUR – National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin has denied that the government spent RM70 million on the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV) website, following a barrage of accusations since yesterday.

The Rembau MP told the press today that the allocation is the ceiling budget, and not merely for the development of the portal.

He said the RM70 million, which has not been fully utilised, is meant to run the entirety of the vaccination system, from integrating the MySejahtera app with the Health Ministry system to vaccine logistics.

The budget is being utilised for the immunisation programme’s management and monitoring system, developing its daily dashboard reports, developing the vaccine registration portal, tying up the Google Maps system with MySejahtera, genomic surveillance, and integrating MySejahtera’s digital passport.

Apart from the IT aspects of Malaysia’s vaccination drive, the money is also to fund immunisation centres, as well as the SMS system and automated phone calls reminding the public of their vaccination appointments, among others.

Yesterday, youth organisation Muda demanded Khairy reveal the company that developed the JKJAV website after technical glitches hampered AstraZeneca vaccine bookings.

In a statement, it said the portal has once again failed to meet standards, resulting in Malaysians being unable to register.

“The rakyat have started to question the many (technical) problems the website has, including the use of the free Cloudflare service.

“This raises many questions as RM70 million has been spent on developing the JKJAV system and website. The people have the right to know.”

Similarly, Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii demanded transparency over the RM5 billion Covid-19 spending to instil public confidence following the website glitches.

“This is in view of certain quarters questioning whether the RM70 million allocated to the immunisation programme data integration and appointment system is justified, especially after yesterday’s AstraZeneca registration fiasco.”

The DAP lawmaker, who chairs the parliamentary select committee on health, science and innovation, added: “We acknowledge the openness of vaccine programme coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin explaining that the sum is firstly a ceiling level set by the Finance Ministry, and it also includes other deliverables, including management and monitoring of the immunisation programme’s progress, as well as the development of a dashboard for daily reporting, among others.

“Even so, there must be greater transparency in all these expenditures, including the contractors involved, job scope and deliverables, to avoid the risk of abuse and possible over-profiteering.

“Extraordinary times call for extraordinary transparency.” – The Vibes, May 27, 2021