FEARING arrest and other forms of intimidation, undocumented migrants are resorting to unofficial and illegal ways to get inoculated with Covid-19 vaccines, civil society groups said.

They said one common approach taken by this group of migrants is by paying intermediaries to get jabbed, and they are often scammed.

The migrants are resorting to this because they are fearful authorities can track their presence and whereabouts if they register on the MySejahtera app, and would be detained when they turn up for jabs at official vaccination centres.

This fear is prevalent despite assurance from the authorities that undocumented migrants would not be detained when they come for vaccination.

On the other hand, for those who are ready to use the official channels for their doses, they find that the vaccination process for their community is very slow, and even their employers are not helping much, added the volunteer groups.

New Su Shern of Project Liber8 said undocumented migrants are looking at other options to get vaccinated as they need to work.

“Some of the them are willing to pay for their vaccines but at times they do get cheated by certain parties,” she said.

She added that employers should take the responsibility to vaccinate their staff but even the bosses are worried of repercussions having undocumented migrants as employees.

New said there are about four million undocumented migrants, of whom only about 1.2 million have been vaccinated.

She urged the government to allow more civil society groups to take part in providing the vaccines for migrants, especially the undocumented ones.

“We have built a trust with the undocumented migrants, and they would feel more comfortable approaching us than walking into a vaccination centre.

“Also, the travelling cost to a vaccination centre is something most undocumented migrants can’t afford,” she said.

Adrian Pereira of North South Initiative said there have been too many flip-flops by the government when it comes to vaccinating undocumented migrants.

This was a major reason for the group failing to show up.

“We have failed to understand their culture and behaviour as the government should know these people live in fear of being arrested and harassed on a daily basis.

“The government is responding to vaccinate undocumented migrants but it has been very slow,” he said.

He added that there have also been flaws on the MySejahtera and Selangkah apps as the forms available there are not language-friendly to the migrants.

“Most of these undocumented migrants are illiterate, which is why the government should have those forms available in their respective languages as well.

“For instance in Singapore, vaccination forms are available in all languages, making it easier for the migrants to understand,” he said.

Set up mobile vaccination centres

Mahi Ramakrishan of Beyond Borders said many undocumented migrants have yet to register on MySejahtera as they feared that the data collected would, later on, be used by the Immigration Department to track them down.

“These migrant workers and also refugees should have been given access to all vaccination centres from the very beginning.

“We really didn’t think this through. For example, mobile vaccination centres should have been set up from the very beginning to vaccinate migrant workers in factories. But we failed to do that.

“Now, there is no proper access for undocumented workers to get their vaccinations. It is civil society groups taking the initiative to work with organisations such as the Red Cross to get them vaccinated,” she said.

A migrant worker who only wants to be known as Riyas said he was afraid of being arrested at the vaccination centre.

“I have seen so many of my friends being arrested during immigration raids, which is why there is a bit of fear in me to enter a vaccination centre controlled by the government,” he said.

A Rohingya who only wants to be known as Siti said she was eager to get vaccinated but the fear of being arrested was always there.

“It would be great to have someone we trust like the civil society groups to help get us vaccinated instead of going to jab centres.

“Also, travelling to these centres would cost us almost RM50, which is something we can’t afford at this point,” she said.

Malaysia yesterday completed 80% vaccination of its adult population, allowing the government to transition into an endemic phase.

Fully vaccinated is defined as having completed a waiting period for vaccine efficacy to begin. It is 14 days after receiving the second shot for those who have a two-dose vaccine, and 28 days for those given a one-shot vaccine. – September 23, 2021.