KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 — Phase two of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) will kick off on April 19, with appointment reminders sent out to eligible recipients two weeks ahead. 

Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin said a total of 2 million people — senior citizens, high-risk groups, the chronically ill, and people with disabilities — have so far registered for vaccination under the second phase.

"We will begin issuing appointment notices through instant messaging, phone calls and MySejahtera to those who have been chosen to be listed under this second phase on April 5,” he told a press conference here.

The second phase of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme is expected to be carried out from April to August.

Khairy said the exact timeline would be known in the next couple of days after the aforementioned numbers are tallied and their geographical location identified, when asked how long it would take to vaccinate some two million people in phase two of the programme.

"Once we’ve broken it down on geographical locations, we will know where and whether or not we need to open up bigger vaccination centres,” he added.

Khairy, who is also the coordinating minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, expressed optimism that the aforementioned number of registrations under phase two would grow to the targeted figure of 9 million soon.

At the same time, Khairy said the general public who have already signed up early on MySejahtera for Covid-19 vaccination under the third phase would be able to obtain their vaccines if supplies permitted.

"While we await and attempt to persuade them to register, if supplies are sufficient, we will prioritise those who have registered under the third phase.

"If the registration for the second phase is slow, we will not wait but I am confident the phase two figures will increase further daily with our community outreach programmes,” he said.

However he also stressed that prioritising those from the third phase did not mean that the government has "given up” on high-risk groups under the second phase who have yet to register or registered late for their shots.

"Once they register into the MySejahtera system, there’s an algorithm that will push them to the top of the queue.

"The system will pick up if they’re above 60 or disabled, or If they have comorbidities, and will immediately bump them up to the top of the queue because they’re part of phase two,” Khairy added.