KUCHING, Feb 21 — The vaccine registration through the MySejahtera mobile application can only be done once the option is ready, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.

For the time being, he said the Sarawak state government is now accepting registration for the Pfizer- BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine under the Covid-19 Immunisation Programme through its district offices and health clinics.

"The state agencies are ahead in the registration process.

"We aim to reach out to all eligible and who are not using the MySejahtera. "Our ‘ketua kampung’ (village chiefs) and ‘tuai rumah’ (longhouse chiefs) are already working together with our district offices and clinics on the process.” he said today to clarify on the registration process for the free Covid-19 vaccine.

Yesterday, Uggah who is also Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman had said that Sarawakians can now register themselves to get the free Covid-19 vaccine.

He had said that registration can be done through the MySejahtera application on their handphones or by approaching the clinics and district offices.

Bernama had reported on Friday (Feb 19) that in line with the implementation of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, new vaccine-related features will be included in the MySejahtera mobile application soon.

As such, users are reminded to update their MySejahtera application once the new version is available.

Health Ministry Disease Control Division senior principal assistant director Dr A. Maheshwara Rao was quoted as saying the new feature would include the aspects of vaccine registration, vaccination process as well as self-monitoring.

It was reported the registration feature would enable users to not only register for themselves, but also their dependents who do not have access to the application.

"During the registration process, users must verify their name as well as identity card and are required to answer some questions before receiving a notification of vaccine injection date.

"Therefore, users need to turn on the push notification feature in the application to enable them to receive any information (regarding the vaccination process),” he had said in the report.

Malaysia is receiving the first batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine this Sunday while the ‘roll out’ for implementation of the immunisation programme begins in phases from Feb 26.

For Sarawak, it is expected that 2.2 million people in the state will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine this year.

The vaccination programme in the state would officially be launched at the Stadium Perpaduan in Petra Jaya on February 27.

It has been reported that Sarawak aims to speed up and complete all three phases of free vaccination by August this year.

The first phase of the vaccination programme would be from the end of this month until April for 97,000 frontliners, while the second and third phase would be from the end of March to August this year, for 929,000 people in high risk groups and 992,000 people above 18 years old respectively. — Borneo Post Online