SEGAMAT – The Health Ministry (MoH) will identify the causes for the low levels of Covid-19 vaccinations among the Malaysian population, said its minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba.
He said that MoH was targeting for 70% to 80% of Malaysians to register for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, but thus far only 7.6 million out of 26.7 million had registered through the MySejahtera application.
“I am not satisfied. MoH is not satisfied. MoH will find the reason why they did not register. Is the campaign not compelling enough or are they concerned or want to wait and see? Some even claim that the vaccine is this and that.
“Or do they not get coverage of the MySejahtera application in their respective areas, or lack of knowledge. Thus far, 7 million (that) have registered is still low,” he said in a press conference, after officiating the district-level Malaysia Prihatin Covid-19 Vaccination: ‘Protect Yourself, Protect All’ programme here, today.
He said that MoH hoped that the number of those registered would increase before the second phase of the Covid-19 vaccine injection, commencing on April 17, to avoid difficulties in the final phase of the vaccine injection.
Dr Adham said that manual registration at health offices, health clinics, government and private hospitals had also been opened to make it easier for residents, whose access to devices and the internet was limited, to register for the vaccine.
In the meantime, he said that the effectiveness of the vaccine injection had been proven when the statistics of healthcare workers infected with Covid-19 showed a decline.
He said that 6,087 cases of Covid-19 infection among healthcare personnel were recorded as at yesterday, with nurses recording the highest number at 2,276 cases, or 37%, followed by medical officers with 816 cases, or 13%. – Bernama, April 4, 2021
