Rep: KJ should provide more detailed Covid-19 vaccination targets

The Special Committee on Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) should provide more detailed targets on the number of people it is aiming to vaccinate, said Bukit Gasing assemblyperson R Rajiv.

He said this will allow Malaysians to better gauge the pace of the national Covid-19 immunisation programme.

Rajiv said this in response to Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin who was reported as saying that Malaysia's Covid-19 vaccine pace was not "slow". Khairy is the coordinating minister for the vaccination and also co-chairs the JKJAV.

"Khairy needs to be transparent on the month by month immunisation target to reach our December target of 80 percent immunisation, instead of constantly repeating that Malaysia is 'not slow' as he most recently said on April 19," Rajiv said.

Phase 2 of the immunisation programme involving the elderly and ill began on Monday. According to the plan, the government intends to vaccinate 9.4 million people by August.

On Tuesday, Khairy also said at least 95 percent of the 571,000 frontliners have at least received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Rajiv called for more specific targets instead of "broad strokes".

"Without set targets and goals, it is easy to claim that we will be following schedules and phases but all that has been given to us are broad strokes of the plan with big numbers.

"According to Khairy, by June we should have enough vaccines in the country for all those who have registered. So, how efficiently can these be administered?" he asked.

Rajiv noted that transparency was needed, especially since Parliament has been suspended and no oversight can be provided.

The government has a duty not only to the people’s peace of mind with regard to the vaccination availability and roll-out, but also to spur confidence in investment and to help the economy to recover.

Rajiv asked for specific breakdowns on the number of people the government intends to vaccinate on a daily or monthly basis.

He added that data on the number of vaccines expected and timeline should also be published.

This was on top of data on targeted registration rate and also the proportion of the population targeted for vaccine education.

Earlier this month, the KJKAV published a graph showing the projected Covid-19 vaccine supply by the end of the year, but it did not carry specific numbers.