KOTA KINABALU – Two men living here have been assigned Covid-19 vaccination venues far, far away – one in Kudat, about 180km from the Sabah capital, and the other in Penang.
The duo, whose identities were withheld by state DAP secretary Chan Foong Hin, were notified on MySejahtera.
One man is a Penampang resident who registered for vaccination on March 11 and was supposed to get his first dose on June 9.
He was instructed to show up at Dewan Millenium Kepala Batas in Seberang Prai Utara, Penang.
The second man, whose address is in Luyang, registered on May 29. He was given an appointment at Dewan Tun Mustapha in Kudat on June 4.
“Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin must immediately improve the MySejahtera app to ensure there are no more errors,” said Chan.
“This is in hopes that public confidence in MySejahtera will not worsen, and frustrate the vaccination drive.
“DAP here has been mobilising its members to assist people in registering for Covid-19 vaccination through MySejahtera, to help the government speed up the inoculation drive.
“However, such an elementary error will certainly lead to lower confidence in the app.”
The Kota Kinabalu MP has approached state health director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi over the two cases, and the latter has said she will address the matter.
The country’s vaccination programme is now in Phase 2, involving people aged 60 and up.
Slow immunisation rate
Chan said there are still many elderly folk and individuals with comorbidities who have yet to get their vaccination appointments.
Sabah aims to complete its vaccination campaign within a year, targeting some three million people, after starting the programme on February 26.
“Based on that, in Sabah alone, an average of 250,000 people will have to be vaccinated every month, continuously for 12 months,” said Chan.
“But as of May 31, fewer than 150,000 people have been vaccinated in Sabah. How can we achieve the target within a year?”
Errors on MySejahtera are not helping the vaccination drive, which is moving at a snail’s pace, he added.
Khairy yesterday said vaccine recipients have been assigned to other states due to the Google Maps API used by the app.
When applicants keyed their address into MySejahtera, the map listed all neighbourhoods with the same name, he said, adding that some users might have clicked on the first address that popped up despite it being the wrong one.
“For instance, somebody lives in Taman Bahagia, Kuala Lumpur.
“They typed out ‘Taman Bahagia’, and all the ‘Taman Bahagia’ addresses dropped down in the Google Maps API.
“They clicked on the first ‘Taman Bahagia’, which is actually Taman Bahagia in Sandakan, Sabah.”
To prevent the problem from recurring, MySejahtera will have an additional feature where applicants must confirm their address, including postcode and state, he said.
“My message to MySejahtera users is, update the address field, so that such incidents can be minimised or eliminated.
“We are also coming up with an interactive help desk feature on the app soon to assist in cases where people are sent to PPVs (vaccination centres) in other states, or those far from them, because of the Google Maps API issue.
“My suggestion for everyone using MySejahtera is to update your address field and enter your state and postcode details, so these problems won’t occur again.” – The Vibes, June 1, 2021
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