JOHOR BARU, June 14 — Skudai assemblyman Tan Hong Pin has today questioned why some users have been complaining to him that they were assigned their second AstraZeneca Covid-19 immunisation merely three weeks after their first appointment.
Tan asked if there is a problem with the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, since minister in charge of vaccine rollout Khairy Jamaluddin himself has said that the two doses will be 12 weeks apart in Malaysia.
“Therefore when people found out from their own vaccination page on the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee (JKJAV) portal that the second dose is to be taken in 21 days, they rightly feel confused and concerned.
“I call upon Khairy to address the matter immediately and to allay public concerns. Let me remind the minister that many senior citizens struggle against the appointment system on a daily basis to get their appointments right.
“Many feel dejected and demoralised after their appointments ran into multiple problems. As elected representatives, we do our best to help them navigate the maze of MySejahtera because we want everyone to come onboard and get them vaccinated,” said Tan.
Tan gave some examples of such an appointment, including a 69-year-old retired civil servant from Batu Pahat who received his first dose on June 7 but received an appointment for the second dose on June 28, just 21 days after the first dose.
He said the complaints he received were all from those receiving their first AstraZeneca jab at the Persada Convention Centre in Johor Baru, which is one of the eight venues involved in the second round of AstraZeneca vaccination programme starting June 7.
Tan said he believed that these are not isolated cases and could be caused by some serious glitch that is causing problems to the centralised Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force vaccine appointment system.
