National Covid-19 immunisation programme coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin said apart from scheduling an appointment time and implementing physical distancing, time spent at the vaccination centres would be cut short by speeding up the process for each recipient, with the introduction of the digital consent form on MySejahtera.
He said with the new feature on the mobile application vaccine recipients no longer had to fill out forms manually, thus helping to streamline the vaccination process, save time and reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission.
“In the Klang Valley, with the current sporadic cases, it is difficult to say if certain places, such as PPVs, was the cause of infection.
“I am looking at this issue to ensure that the SOPs at mega PPVs are tightened and improved every day,” he said, adding that by implementing such approaches the vaccination process has been accelerated.
He said this while appearing as a guest on the “Tangani Pandemik Covid-19 Bersama” (“Fight the Covid-19 pandemic together”) programme on Bernama TV hosted by Ras Adiba Radzi last night.
Khairy, who is also the science, technology and innovation minister, said help was also sought from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to ensure there was good ventilation at the mega PPVs.
Commenting on the congestion that occurred at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre PPV last Wednesday, he said it was due to some non-citizen vaccine recipients who, despite having different time slots, had come at the same time.
“However, the matter was settled quickly,” he said.
In the meantime, Khairy said Operation Surge Capacity to increase vaccination rates and curb the spread of infection would proceed to other areas after it was completed in the Klang Valley.
He said the operation in the Klang Valley was the third of its kind to be implemented according to the epidemic control approach, whereby the first one carried out in Labuan had clearly shown a decrease in infections and hospital admissions.
Meanwhile, Khairy said Malaysia had a relatively high registration rate for Covid-19 vaccination, with 82% of the adult population having registered.
“I believe more people will register after the prime minister announces the benefits and conveniences to be accorded to those who are fully vaccinated,” he said, without giving any further details.
On the fixing of the ceiling price for Covid-19 vaccines, Khairy said he would discuss this with the health minister Adham Baba at a meeting of the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) soon.
“This is so that no sale of vaccine is made at an excessive price. Although this is under the private sector, the vaccine is an essential item for the pandemic, so it is not fair for any quarter to profit excessively from the sale of this vaccine,” he said.
Khairy added that Malaysia is discussing with the European Union (EU) to accept the MySejahtera vaccine digital certificate for Malaysians travelling to Europe.