SANDAKAN – Authorities in Sabah have denied that undocumented migrants who had their information recorded when receiving Covid-19 vaccination will be arrested in the near future.
Sandakan Disaster Operation Control Centre chairman Wong Foo Tin said that the information was recorded by the Health Ministry for the sole purpose of the immunisation programme.
“We have received chain messages that claim undocumented persons will be given an ID number upon receiving Covid-19 vaccination, and these IDs will be used to arrest them in the future.
“This is not true. The ID number given to recipients is to enable them to prove their vaccination status so that they can enter shops and supermarkets in the future,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Wong, who is also the Sandakan Municipal Council president, urged people staying in Sandakan regardless of their citizenship to get their jabs at walk-in vaccination centres.
Sandakan district health officer Dr Johari Awang Besar also issued a statement stressing that the viral message claiming undocumented people will be arrested after vaccination is not true.
“Those who spread this false message are irresponsible and inhumane. We want to achieve herd immunity in the district, and these messages will hinder our hard work to achieve our target,” he said.
Walk-in vaccinations for non-Malaysians in Sandakan started early last month.
The Vibes has spoken to undocumented foreigners who have been inoculated and found that those without formal identification documents are given vaccination cards. Each of them is given a unique ID number, written on their vaccination cards.
Health personnel also take a photo of the undocumented recipient to ensure that the person receiving his or her second dose is the same person who had received the first dose.
As for the locals, 47% of Sandakan’s adult population, or 182,000 people, still have not registered for the vaccine via MySejahtera, and have yet to be inoculated. – The Vibes, September 5, 2021
