This comes after the Covid-19 immunisation task force (CITF) revealed that certain third parties had made bookings for the vaccine without the recipients even knowing about them.

These bookings, a portion of which CITF said had been made via Selangor’s SELangkah app, came to light after CITF received complaints from the public that they had been given AstraZeneca vaccination appointments, even though they had not opted in for the vaccine.

In a statement, Tengku Iesta Tengku Alaudin, CEO of SELangkah said they were not involved in any vaccine bookings.

“CITF has never contacted us regarding this matter,” he said.

However, CITF claimed that they had contacted the third parties who made the block bookings, such as SELangkah, as reservations for AstraZeneca had been made through the ImuniSel database without the recipients’ consent.

“SELangkah gave their assurance that those who were given AstraZeneca vaccine appointments will be reverted to the vaccine of their choice,” said CITF, adding that it would rectify the issue.

Tengku Iesta added that SELangkah would not hesitate to take legal action against anyone who spread false allegations to tarnish its reputation.

After the hiccups during the bookings, the next batch of AstraZeneca vaccines will no longer be available as an opt-in but will be reincorporated into the mainstream of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.

Science, technology and innovation minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the great response to the AstraZeneca jabs was proof that there was no longer any hesitancy among the community about the vaccine.

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