THE vaccinate first, register later approach is working to good effect in Sarawak, state leaders say, and they believe it is the best way to inoculate residents in its vast interior and rural areas.

Sarawak’s vaccination rate, as of July 2, has 9.1% of the population covered with two doses and 40.9% with one dose.

State leaders think the figures could be even higher if data on walk-ins in rural areas had been tabulated in time. 

State Housing and Local Government Minister Dr Sim Kui Hian, a key adviser to the disaster management committee, said he would have to check on the exact number of those vaccinated with this approach, but said it was sizeable.

“Definitely a success, otherwise we would not have so many people being vaccinated in rural areas,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

In these places, where poor or zero internet service makes the mandatory registration on MySejahtera or through the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) website impossible, the pen and paper method has proven more reliable.

The vaccinate first, register later drive started in early June after civil society organisation the Baram People’s Action Committee (BPAC) said some farmers in the remote settlement of Long San in central Baram had been denied jabs when they could not produce any documentary proof of their Malaysian citizenship to mobile vaccination teams dispatched to rural areas.

The issue was later ironed out when Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg said these Sarawakians without identification papers will still get their shots if their village chief or community leaders are able to vouch for them.

The policy has been lauded by politicians on both sides of the political divide.

“This is the only way to go if we want to achieve herd immunity as fast as possible,” said Bukit Assek assemblyman Irene Chang.

“We need to go in and vaccinate them all first as longhouses have been the start of many clusters,” the DAP lawmaker said.

She said if the rural folk have to register themselves on the MySejahtera app before they could be vaccinated, “this pandemic would never be put under control”.

Chang suggested the state government could go further by making the policy applicable in urban areas as well, where some people still have problems with MySejahtera.

There have been complaints that the app is dogged by system failures, missing names and speed lag.

Chang also said many complained of the long wait for a vaccination appointment with MySejantera, with people who registered in February still unable to secure an appointment.

If Sarawak begins allowing walk-ins in urban areas with poor Internet service, this would surely speed up the vaccination process, she added.

“It is always better to be practical, to do the necessary rather than be held back from achieving our purpose because of documentation.”

In late May, National Covid-19 Vaccination Programme coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin said Sarawak was being given priority as its state election must be held within 60 days should the country’s state of emergency end on August 1.

He said if a state election was to be held without the majority of its population vaccinated, it would pose a risk not only to Sarawak but to the rest of the country.

The state has 2.2 million adults that need to be vaccinated by the end of August, under the federal government’s target.

Putrajaya, which manages the vaccination programme, has so far not responded to suggestions by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former health minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad to also adopt the vaccinate first, register later approach nationally, given people’s issues with the MySejahtera app, and to reach herd immunity sooner.

As of July 2, in terms of percentage of state population with one dose of the vaccine, Sarawak with 40.9% covered is second after Kuala Lumpur with 61.7%. Putrajaya with 38% is third.

Nationally, 2.5 million people or 7.5% of the population have been fully vaccinated with two shots, while 6.1 million or 18.7% have had one dose.

The federal government’s target is to cover 10% of the population with two doses by mid-July, and believes it can achieve this with 12 million more doses of vaccines due to arrive this month.

Deputy Chief Minister James Masing said Sarawak was being aggressive in its vaccination approach because cycles of lockdowns are not the answer to tackling the pandemic.

The Baleh assemblyman, whose seat is a rural one on the upper reaches of the Rajang River, said the state was on track to reach its 80% herd immunity target by August 21.

However, the vaccinate first, register later approach can be abused, said PKR Sarawak information chief Abu Sui Anyit.

Though a good idea, he said some companies tried to abuse the flexibility of the approach by jumping queue to get their foreign workers vaccinated first.

He would not name the companies nor business they are in but said such behaviour was unethical. – July 4, 2021.