PUTRAJAYA must make changes to the current Covid-19 vaccination registration programme if it is serious about achieving its 70% target on schedule, said Bukit Gasing assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran.

The DAP rep said there is a need to increase the certainty and choice upon registration, which will increase the registration rate and people who are currently in queue will also know the length of their wait.

“Instead of the current system where one merely registers their interest to receive the vaccination, people should be informed of the available vaccine centres near them, and be allowed to book their vaccination slot, which is date, time and place,” he said in a statement today.

On Monday, National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme co-ordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, said phase two, covering senior citizens, persons with disabilities and those with chronic diseases, will begin on April 19 in eight states.

He said that nearly 8 million people or 32.6% of the country’s population have registered through MySejahtera, while more than 500,000 people have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Health Minister Dr Adham Baba had earlier said that the take up rate for the vaccination was slow because only about 30% of the population have registered for inoculation.

Rajiv said the government should change the registration system to overcome the low registration rate.

“Khairy also said that those who register for the vaccines will have 14 days’ notice of their appointment, and that we can accept or decline the proposed date and time for vaccination.

“While we can assume the government will use automated technology (push notification) for the MySejahtera app users, many Malaysians have registered for the vaccine on the website or manually.”

He said that these people need to be notified manually under Khairy’s plan of action.

“When people decline, they will have to be manually contacted again with a different date and time. Allowing people to pick their time slots simply eliminates this circumstance.”

Rajiv said the task of manually informing thousands of people a day will be a massive strain on resources, especially as these are residents who are senior citizens.

“Some are unlikely to have decent access to text messaging and will require manual phone calls.

“What about those who do not respond to the SMS or phone calls, will they be dropped from the vaccination list?”

He added that the Ministry of Health already has in place such an appointment system when it comes to making appointments to see a doctor or to collect medicine via qmed.asia/booking.

“The ministry already has available resources in place to amend the registration system.”

Looking at the current situation, Rajiv said that currently, the vaccination programme is in Phase 1, and yet, there are a lot of unnecessary human resources being used to give vaccination appointments.

“When I got vaccinated recently, a doctor contacted me to inform me of my appointment, which is a waste of human resources and is an inefficient way to manage talent.

“Threatening the general public with action for failure to attend the vaccination appointment is serving more as a deterrent than encouragement to register, especially when under the Emergency Ordinance, these fines can go up to RM10,000.”

He said the government has the potential to improve the registration rate for the vaccination, make life easier for the medical front-liners and the public at large.

“We should implement this one simple technical improvement in the registration process.

“I call upon Covid-19 special committee on vaccine supply access assurance to improve this registration process as soon as possible.” – April 7, 2021.