KUCHING, May 24: Former Stampin MP Julian Tan has urged the State government to work closely with the telco companies to ensure all vaccination centres (PPV) have uninterrupted network in efforts to expedite the vaccination process.
According to Tan, who is also special assistant to Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen, currently, some of the PPV are already experiencing snail-pacing telco communication.
“Those who come for vaccination need a good network connection to log in to their MySejahtera apps during the vaccination process and coordinate their transportation for pickup. Poor telco connectivity will unequivocally slow down the overall vaccination process,” he said in a press statement today.
Tan noted that the government also needs to ensure the MySejahtera overall system is ready for the sudden surge of usage with the arrival of million vaccines in the coming months.
He said since May 16, Malaysia’s Covid-19 vaccination rate is seeing a big boost, up from the 40,000 doses highest recorded in a day in April and it reached a record high of 83,648 on May 19 (Wednesday).
On May 22 (Saturday), he continued, the figure dropped to around 45,200 doses, probably due to system issues that occurred, which also caused delays and long queues at registration counters in all the PPV.
“Malaysia targets to administer 160,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses per day from June onward, up from the 40,000 figure in the month of April. A four-fold increase. The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Special Committee (JKJAV) needs to communicate with various actors in every State on the reliability and stability of the system at current work loading.
“The feedback will enable the Special Committee to gauge the system resiliency and ability to cope with the upcoming four-fold increase in vaccination as the PPV rely heavily on connection to the MySejahtera system to process those coming for the vaccination.
“Even a slight setback on the MySejahtera system will severely impact the speed and smooth flowing of the vaccination process. This early preparation and anticipation are important for the nation to achieve herd immunity (80 per cent vaccinated) as soon as possible,” he explained.
He pointed out that the vaccination programme is an unprecedented nationwide effort never experienced before and the government needs to ensure all the actors, be it government agencies or third party contractors, must have the relevant, adequate expertise.
He said it is crucial to plan and anticipate any possible challenges that may deter our effort to get as many as possible to be vaccinated. It must be a flawless well- coordinated effort and nothing less.
“Malaysians and our economy are showing signs of fatigue from the ever-changing SOP and movement restrictions. We keep breaching the previous high record in daily infected cases.
“Daily covid-19 testing remains at the disappointing rate of 70,000 per day instead of the targeted 150,000. Some Intensive Care Units (ICUs) in the hospital are already at 317 per cent and 200 per cent capacity, almost over 100 per cent. We cannot afford to miss our vaccination target. If anything, we need to increase it as it appears to be our only hope,” he added. — DayakDaily
