By Karen Bong
KUCHING, May 20: Family members who are more tech-savvy are encouraged to help and assist the elderly to register if they are keen to opt-in for the AstraZeneca (AZ) Covid-19 vaccine, which has been extended to Sarawak and is open for registration starting May 23.
The registration to opt-in for the AZ vaccine via https://www.vaksincovid.gov.my/ will start this coming Sunday (May 23) to May 26 only for senior citizens aged 60 and above.
The State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) has yesterday informed that Sarawak will follow the system and procedure laid out by the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) for registration of the AZ vaccine as announced by coordinator of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NCIP) Khairy Jamaluddin.
Following registration and booking for appointments, SDMC said that the vaccine, to be given free, will be administered in additional dedicated immunisation centres.
Note that the registration is currently closed and will be opened on May 23 for Sarawak as well as two other states namely Johor and Penang given the high number of Covid-19 cases reported.
While priority will be given to high risk groups such as those above the age of 60 in the second round of AZ vaccines, Khairy, who is also Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, however pointed out that if there are excess vaccine slots that have not been taken up, then the AZ vaccines will become available to the general public for registration after May 26.
In addition, those in the waiting list when they registered for AZ vaccines during the first round of registration on May 5 will also get an appointment for their vaccine shots.
The government, he added, will open online applications starting next week for those who wished to shorten the intervals between the first and second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines.
Currently, the intervals for the first and second vaccine shots for AZ is 12 weeks (three months).
Khairy said that the government will allow for those who wish to apply for a shorter vaccine interval such as students who are going abroad to study to apply on the website next week.
On May 15, Khairy had announced that Malaysia is expected to receive one million more doses of the AZ vaccine, procured via the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access or Covax, within this month. — DayakDaily
