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KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 18 — The number of registrations for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme at 5,867,497 as of last midnight was impressive as the country is still in the first phase of the programme, said Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Ahmad Amzad Hashim.
He said on average, 200,000 to 300,000 people registered for the immunisation programme every day and was confident that the number would continue to rise when the whole registration machinery is mobilised.
“The National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) will lead the engagement sessions with residents at the rural and interior areas to encourage registration.
“We are also increasing communications so that we can deliver more information to the people,” he told Bernama in a virtual interview today.
He said currently, there was still a clear gap in the total number of registrations between states, as Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang showed poor registration rates compared to the others.
Ahmad Amzad said Malaysians, in general, did not reject the vaccine but many were taking the wait-and-see approach as they were not fully convinced of the vaccine’s safety and stability.
“When people look at reality, with over 367,000 people inoculated in the first phase with no bad allergic reaction and so on, many will have the confidence and register,” he said.
Apart from that, the ministry was currently upgrading the MySejahtera application to enable users to register their dependents as vaccine recipients on the application by the second phase of the programme, next month.
He said the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, which was launched on February 24, aimed at protecting the general public, including those who could not be vaccinated, from the pandemic through the creation of herd immunity, and the government targeted that 80 per cent of the population would be vaccinated within a year.
“When we have achieved herd immunity, Malaysia will be on track to reopen the economy and the people will return to their normal lives,” he said.
Ahmad Amzad also urged the public to play their role in making the immunisation programme a success by disseminating accurate and valid information besides helping their family and community to register as vaccine recipients. — Bernama