MANAGING trust and expectation were the most important factors in ensuring the success of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said.

Khairy, who is also the programme’s coordinating minister, said without the trust of one another – the government and the people – the largest national vaccination programme would not be able to administer Covid-19 vaccines to more than 25 million people within nine months.

“The reason why we succeeded ultimately, is because we trusted each other,” he said during a strategic sharing of the immunisation programme in Putrajaya today.

“When trust is present, everything will work well. We must build trust via personal accountability.”

At the event, Khairy and Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Dr Adham Baba shared their experiences in the rollout of the programme, which kicked off on February 24.

Initially, Khairy and Adham co-chaired the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply before it was handed over fully to the Health Ministry (MOH) from November 1 onwards. 

Earlier, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced only MOH will be the sole agency to manage all vaccination-related programmes while the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (Mosti) will focus on research and development to produce Covid-19 vaccines.

When Muhyiddin Yassin was prime minister, Adham was the health minister while Khairy was the science, technology and innovation minister. They switched roles under Ismail’s administration.

Recalling his experience in the earlier days of the epidemic when he was at Mosti, Khairy said most people seemed to have a “trust deficit” issue.

“When the website for AstraZeneca (appointment booking) crashed, I said sorry. I took responsibility and informed there was an error.

“By taking personal responsibility and accountability, even if they don’t trust you, at least the (government) is not running away from the problem.

“It is very important because, without trust, the programme would not have succeeded,” he said, adding that by vaccinating top government officials such as Muhyiddin and director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, it had indirectly built confidence in the people to get the jab.

Khairy also expressed his appreciation and admiration to all who were involved in the immunisation programme, including the civil servants. – Bernama, November 3, 2021.