Registration for COVID-19 vaccination should be through people-friendly methods - Medical experts

Apart from MySejahtera, they suggested other ways and methods should also be considered, especially for those who do not have access to the application.

President of the Malaysian Association of Public Health Physicians, Datuk Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar, said this would include the normal way of filling forms manually for those in the rural areas who do not have access to the Internet.

He said it is not difficult to disseminate information about the vaccination programme to rural residents, since there are government health clinics and 'mobile' clinics that could be used for the purpose.

"Campaigns need to be conducted to ensure that residents know and are aware of the vaccination and the registration process... the village or surau committees can also help to pass on the information and distribute the forms.

"Meanwhile, government health clinics, especially in rural areas, can also play a role by contacting their patients and to provide them with the forms,” he said when contacted by Bernama.

Sharing his views is , Public Health Physician at the Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Assoc Prof Dr Malina Osman, who said that based on her experience working in health clinics, the clinic could be used to register the names of the potential recipients of the COVID-19 vaccination.

"Through this method, the government can facilitate those who do not have Internet access and also those who do not know how to register online,” she added.

She said apart from using online applications such as MySejahtera, the government should also set up a special website for the COVID-19 vaccination to make it easier for Malaysians to register.

"Generally, I think online registration is easy ... take for example the online census, maybe the government can use the same method," she said.

Dr Malina said the government should also take into account the people in the country who still have problems regarding their citizenship status and expressed the need for the involvement of the various agencies in the registration of the COVID-19 vaccination to ensure no one would be left out, especially those who are at risk.

"We know that the vaccine will be given to those aged 18 and above, but there are still those facing citizenship problem, the matter should be taken into account," she said.

Meanwhile, Director of the Tropical Infectious Disease Research and Education Centre, Universiti Malaya, Prof Dr Sazaly Abu Bakar opined that the registration should be done in stages to avoid technical problems for MySejahtera application.

He suggested the registration for COVID-19 vaccination be conducted according to zones to make it more orderly and systematic.

"The most important thing is that MySejahtera 'server' has a high capacity. The registration can be done by zones, like in Peninsular Malaysia, it can be divided into three or five zones, as well as in Sabah and Sarawak,” he added.

Apart from that, Dr Sazaly said the vaccine could also be given in stages, for example, starting with the red zone.

On the elderly who are not familiar with online applications, like MySejahtera, he said their children should help them to register.

Last Feb 4, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme would start at the end of this month, with the government targeting 80 per cent of the country's population or 26.5 million individuals receiving the vaccine, which will be given free, in three phases.

The first phase is from February to April for a total of 500,000 frontliners who are directly involved in the fight against COVID-19, while the second phase is from April to August for the high-risk groups, comprising senior citizens aged 60 and above and the vulnerable groups with morbidity problems such as heart disease, obesity , diabetes and high blood pressure, and also those with disabilities.

The third phase, which is from May this year to February next year, is for adults aged 18 and above.