A TOTAL of 110 days has passed since the publicity stunt of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin getting his first jab of Covid-19 vaccine, yet the truth remains that the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme still lags far behind the planned schedule.

The recent surge of outbreak is indeed worrying where Malaysia is experiencing four-digit daily cases since April 1 and had led to a situation where we surpassed India in terms of infection rate per capita.

In general, apart from the first phase where front-line healthcare workers and armed forces were prioritised, we now have two streams of vaccination registration, one was where those who had initially signed up during February when the programme was first launched, and two, another big group who signed up after the surge of outbreak.

This is totally acceptable because many people were not convinced about the safety of the vaccines when it was first rolled out, but they changed their mind when more information about the vaccine was obtained.

On the other hand, a number of opposition politicians have politicised the issue with baseless accusations, which does not help to improve the vaccination registration drive.

The most notorious case being where DAP leaders misled the public with an allegation that the Special Committee for Ensuring Access to Covid-19 vaccine Supply and Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) had barred the Penang government from receiving two million doses of vaccines donation from a businessman; there were also instances where the leader of opposition accused the Perikatan Nasional government for not allowing Malaysia’s pharmaceutical companies to import the vaccines from various sources.

Safe to say, this is certainly not helpful and the opposition successfully provoked public anger and frustration towards the government’s failure in its vaccination delivery.

During these challenging times, vaccines are a top priority list of national security. The access to the vaccine supply is an extremely complex process dictated by many factors, such as geopolitics, socio-economics, availability of technological know-how, price etc.

Under emergency use, vaccines can only be supplied to the government and/or single authority nominated by the government, which is a practice by many national governments.

Over time, the World Health Organisation has criticised the inequity of vaccine supply across the world. The reason why Indonesia has better access to Sinovac vaccines than Malaysia was because the former was selected as the phase 3 trial partner country by Sinovac. At the end of last year, Malaysia and Indonesia volunteered for the Sinovac phase 3 trial but Sinovac Biotech Ltd chose the latter, as Malaysia had a much milder outbreak than Indonesia at that time. And that is the reason why Indonesia was guaranteed an adequate supply of vaccines.

Whereas Singapore is expected to pay a premium for vaccines, which is four to five times higher than Malaysia’s based on their estimated budget and population size.

Recently, Siam BioScience, a company solely owned by Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn, and also a manufacturing partner for AstraZeneca to supply vaccines to the Southeast Asian region, had delayed the vaccine supplies to the Philippines, Taiwan and Malaysia. The delay was attributed to Thailand expediting its own vaccination programme.

Based on these examples, it is clear that Malaysia cannot be faulted for the abrupt supplies of vaccines, and which is why the opposition should offer suggestions instead of baseless claims. The same applies to all fellow Malaysians too as we should also show our maturity and wisdom in expressing our frustrations, rather than being pawns of these politicians.

Having said that, there are plenty of issues for the committee and CITF to reflect upon and improve. With limited supply of vaccines and an inability to vaccinate everybody at the same time, it is an extremely hard decision for any policymaker to determine who should be next in line to be vaccinated.

Unfortunately, the arrogance shown by Malaysian officers and policymakers in gathering public opinion and their refusal to decentralise the vaccination exercise so as to match socio-economic and local behaviours of finer-granular geolocation, do not help.

Secondly, with minimal efforts in database operation and presentation, the committee and CITF will be able to show the number and demography for vaccination registration and those who have been vaccinated according to age, front-line for essential services such as healthcare workers, armed forces, teachers, for every state. With this information and data, it will be easier for the public to judge and monitor the progress, and perhaps avoid unnecessary arguments.

More importantly, with limited access to vaccine supplies, why are certain sectors of the economy allowed to cut queue and be prioritised under the International Trade and Industry Ministry-public-private initiative (Miti-PPI)?

The government needs to understand that in society, broadly speaking, the modern economy and societal structures are interwoven and entangled, and therefore all sectors are essential.

The vaccination programme shows flaws. For example, why are shopping mall workers, who have less risks, prioritised over taxi drivers who obviously are at higher risk?  

The embedded risk assessment is not scientifically sound. Even within the same manufacturing company, the senior management and some clerical staff are subjected to smaller risks than their colleagues in manufacturing sites, as the latter cannot work from home and maintain social distance at the workplace.

Sadly, the government has not offered concrete and sound criteria for the vaccination of the so-called 17 essential economic sectors under the PPI vaccination programme. Clearly the Miti-PPI vaccination programme has allowed privileged companies to jump the queue.

Did the government not think about the consequences of such practices that might trigger unnecessary social disputes? Worse, under Miti-PPI the vaccine is provided free by the government, but it serves as rent-seeking business for some parties.

We all need to question and monitor the committee and CITF so as to ensure a fair access to vaccination across our society.

In the early stage of phase 2 of the programme, most vaccination centres allowed the elderly to be accompanied by others. However, due to the surge in outbreak, some vaccination centres started to implement their own policy that barred adults from accompanying their parents for vaccination.

Many senior citizens in Malaysia are still illiterate and how would they be able to understand the pre-vaccination medical questions and consultation?

Based on my personal experience, I had accompanied my parents to get their jabs in Tampin, Negri Sembilan; and myself was also vaccinated at Ideal Convention Centre (IDCC) in Shah Alam, Selangor.

The staff at the Tampin vaccination centre did not query about any drugs a person might have taken or if still under treatment, while the medical staff at IDCC Shah Alam offered comprehensive consultation.

A few days ago, there was a reported case in Bidoh, Perak where an 85-year-old granny died on the second day after being vaccinated. The granny, who did not comprehend Malay and English, was ordered to get vaccinated without the company of her children, and under the consent form, all columns apart from pregnant/breastfeeding were left blank.

It is likely that the medical officer at the Bidoh vaccination centre was not aware of the medical and health history of the granny due to communication problems. The government needs to ensure a proper implementation of on-site pre-vaccination medical consultation across the country, not just the Klang Valley.

The elderly and generally less educated community in the countryside need help as communication barriers are their biggest hindrance towards a successful vaccination.

The government should be mindful that communication and transparency are crucial in fighting the pandemic, apart from medical intervention like vaccines, testing and treatment.

Therefore, it is the authorities’ responsibility to inform and update the public regarding the planning and the progress of the immunisation drive, and be willing to listen and be flexible in amending implementation.

We are living in a highly uncertain times. Ordinary people, politicians, senior officers, policymakers and the government must work hand-in-hand, offer constructive suggestions and criticisms to improve oversight.

Or else, we all will sink together. – June 14, 2021.

* Chong Kok Boon is a member of Agora Society. He is a self-declared Peter Pan who advocates science in forging a more democratic and humane society.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.