Guidelines to prevent queue jumping for COVID jab

PUTRAJAYA, March 1  — The government has established ‘Guidelines to Determine List of Frontliners’ to avoid queue jumping under the COVID-19 vaccination programme, said Coordinating Minister for National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme, Khairy Jamaluddin.

Khairy who is also Science, Technology and Innovation Minister said the decision was made at the COVID-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV) meeting in which the guidelines would provide details on frontliners.

The guidelines have been signed by him and Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba and had been uploaded at https://www.vaksincovid.gov.my/,  found on the websites of both ministries, he added.

“So the question of cutting queue will not arise as personnel of vaccination dispensing centres (PPV)  have been told to follow the guidelines. The guidelines will clearly state who is eligible and who is not yet eligible for the vaccination under phase one,” he was speaking at a joint media conference with Dr Adham after attending the JKJAV meeting here today.

Khairy said the government is also considering issuing compound on those found cutting queue to obtain COViD-19 vaccine jab.

Khairy said more authority maybe given to the Health Minister to impose the compound.

Commenting on the matter, Dr Adham said there are provisions in the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1998 (Act 342) to enable any individuals who obstruct efforts to prevent diseases to be brought to court.

In this regard, Khairy called on the people to channel their complaints on queue cutting to enable more frontline workers receive the COVID-19 shot.

Khairy also said that JKJAV had agreed to form a sub-committee to look into requests and applications for new categories of people who want to be qualified as frontliners. 

On the registration for COVID-19 vaccine jabs via MySejahtera application, he said 1,468,137 or 6.1 per cent of the people have registered as at 11 am this morning.

“The level of registration is still low as our target is 80 per cent. The figure is expected to rise after March 5 when registration via hotline and website, www.vaksincovid.gov.my is opened,” he said.

The number of vaccine recipients so far stands at 17,064 individuals with Sarawak having the most vaccinations followed by Pahang and Perak, he said.

-- BERNAMA