THE government should set month-by-month Covid-19 immunisation targets so the public can track Malaysia’s progress towards the goal of inoculating 80% of the population by December, DAP state lawmaker Rajiv Rishyakaran said.

This would be better than having Khairy Jamaluddin, the coordinating minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, constantly saying that vaccination in Malaysia is “not slow”.

“How can we be so sure? The only target that has been set by the government is to vaccinate 80% of the population by the end of the year, which is what we need to achieve herd immunity.

“(But as) there is currently no parliamentary oversight into this crucial process … Khairy should be transparent to the public at large (and) there must be a daily target that the government commits to vaccinating in order to actually achieve this 80% target,” Rajiv, the Bukit Gasing assemblyman, said in a statement.

He said Khairy’s statements that vaccination was not going slowly was unconvincing.

“Without set targets and goals it is easy to claim that we will be following schedules and phases but all that have been given to us are broad strokes of the plan with big numbers.

“The government has a duty not only to people’s peace of mind with regards to the vaccination availability and roll-out, but also to spur confidence in investment and helping the economy to recover.”

Rajiv also proposed the government have a Vaccine Roll-Out Plan with information on the following:

- How much of the population should we be vaccinating daily (or monthly), between now and the end of the year?

- How many vaccines are we expecting in the country and when?

- How much more of the population should we reach out to, to educate them regarding the vaccine and by when?

- How much should the registration rate increase monthly?

“Rolling out this plan will not only address the concerns of the people but also increase accountability of the government to the people to ensure that the plan is followed through,” Rajiv said. – April 22, 2021.