THE opt-in programme for the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccination will be expanded to other parts of the country, especially areas currently in red zones, said Khairy Jamaluddin.

The science, technology, and innovation minister said as at 12.30pm today, 683 individuals received their vaccine at the World Trade Centre, Kuala Lumpur (WTC KL), 449 received the jab at University Malaya and 493 at University Kebangsaan Malaysia.

“WTC KL will be operating until 9pm while the universities will be operating until 5pm,” Khairy told the media.

Khairy said the reason for some applications not going through for the voluntary programme was due to a mismatch in their MyKad numbers in MySejahtera and the original identification numbers.

He also said the Hotspots Identification for Dynamic Engagement, developed by the government, will start this Friday to allow for more targeted interventions in managing the pandemic and identify potential hotspots ahead of time.

He added that so far the vaccination centres are showing positive signs, averaging 2,000 appointments.

According to him, the government will be focusing more on red zones due to the high spread of the virus in those states.

“Once we have more AstraZeneca vaccine available in the country, we will have more centres available,” said Khairy.

On Monday, Khairy said there will be another one million doses of AstraZeneca will be arriving this month from the Covid-19 Vaccine Global Access or Covax facility.

Those who didn’t not get to register in the previous voluntary round can do it in the next one.

Another 410,000 doses of the jab are set to arrive next month, and 1.2 million doses in August and September. – May 5, 2021.