COMMENT | Let’s ramp up Malaysia’s vaccination programme

COMMENT | I finally got vaccinated along with my wife last Wednesday. No, it wasn’t through the normal National Immunisation Programme under MySejahtera because according to my age, I am under Phase 3 which hasn’t started.

So, that’s right, I was one of the 250,000 people who clamoured online at noon on May 2 to book a spot to be vaccinated. It took me an hour to finally get a date at the Umno headquarters for May 15.

I had to go through all the challenges that people were complaining about the online booking - no dates being displayed, no confirmation page, etc. But eventually, it all worked out. I even managed to register my parents and they will be getting vaccinated next week.

If there ever was a most efficient government-run programme, this vaccination exercise would probably be it. The whole process was simple. As soon as you arrive, signs and personnel are already telling you what to do, very politely, I may add.

There are several stages to go through where they verify your identity and appointment through the MySejahtera app. There is a short briefing by a very humorous official who will explain the whole vaccination process.

There will be a one-on-one consultation with a doctor (they allow husbands and wives to be consulted together). It’s very detailed. I told the doctor that I was allergic to bee stings. He said that it should be okay.

My wife told him that she was allergic to penicillin. He was a bit concerned. So he briefed her on the different reactions that could happen and said that we can stay in the observation space a little longer before leaving just in case.

We were okay after the jabs, received our vaccination cards and went off to Sunway Putra Mall to the Kedai Fixi book store to claim our free book for being vaccinated (just show your vaccination card to them and you get to pick one Fixi book for free!)

The entire vaccination process took less than an hour. Everyone was polite and cheerful, from the personnel (Health Ministry officials, police, Rela, civil defence personnel and volunteers) to the people who came to be vaccinated. It actually made me ...