Vaccination: Police report lodged over claim Kelantan SUK staff jumped queue

KOTA BHARU: Police have received a report over an allegation that 200 staff of the Kelantan State Secretary's (SUK) Office had jumped the queue to get COVID-19 vaccination.

Kota Bharu police chief ACP Abdul Rahim Daud said the report was lodged by Mohamad Taufik Ramli, the Special Officer to the State Local Government, Housing and Health Committee chairman, at the Kota Bharu Police Headquarters in Pengkalan Chepa near here at about 9.30 am today.

"In connection with this, police will conduct further investigations in accordance with Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1988 and Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code," he said when contacted by Bernama.

Earlier, when met by reporters, Mohamad Taufik said the report was lodged among others to ask the authorities to investigate the individual responsible for spreading fake news like this as it concerned the integrity of the state government and the Kelantan State Health Department.

"With this report, we urge that action be taken against those who spread such fake news. I feel responsible for this issue, in my capacity as a civil servant, to rectify the matter as it has gone viral for a day or two," he said.

On Sunday, the allegation had spread on social media, including Twitter, which featured a screen capture of a message claiming that COVID-19 vaccine injection to doctors, nurses and frontline staff who were listed as recipients had to be postponed to give way 200 "ahli" (members) of the Kelantan SUK Office .

Malaysia kicked off the first of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme's three phases on Feb 24, with the first roll-out from February to April this year, involving 500,000 frontliners.

The second phase will be from April to August involving senior citizens aged 65 and above, high-risk groups as well as persons with disabilities (PwD), involving some 9.4 million people, while the third phase from May this year to February 2022 will cover both Malaysians and non-citizens aged 18 and above, targetting more than 13.7 million people.

-- BERNAMA