IPOH, March 22 — The number of individuals that have registered to receive the Covid-19 vaccination in Perak via the MySejahtera app is only 21.1 per cent (406,380 people) from the total state population, which is considered very low, said Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Saarani Mohamad.

Saarani said, fear of needles, the wait and see attitude, as well as the lack of awareness on the importance of vaccination, are seen as among the reasons the people of Perak have not registered for the vaccination under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.

“We assume that people have still not registered to get the vaccination because they want to wait and see. Secondly, it could be due to the constraints of internet service access such as faced by the Orang Asli community, but this matter will be addressed where they Orang Asli will be registered manually by the Orang Asli Development Department (JAKOA),” he said.

He said this to reporters after receiving the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccination at the Indera Mulia Stadium in Ipoh today.

According to statistics, the total population of Perak is 2,611,600 of which 1,951,600 or 74.7 per cent of the people are aged 18 and above.

Saarani urged the people to help the government in the efforts to curb the outbreak of the pandemic as soon as possible by taking the vaccination.

He said the state government would intensify efforts to encourage people to register for the Covid-19 vaccination at public areas such as mall entrances, night markets and football fields as well as deploy trained volunteers to approach those who have yet to register to do so.

Meanwhile, Saarani said, as of yesterday, a total of 45,734 front line workers in the state had received the Covid-19 vaccination under Phase 1 of the immunisation exercise, of which 22,120 were the personnel of the Ministry of Health and the rest were staff from various government agencies and departments.

He said Phase 1 of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme in Perak which is expected to complete by March 31 had reached about 97. 5 per cent of its target. — Bernama