Vaccination priority an appreciation of media's role in COVID war - JMC

JOHOR BAHRU: The government's move to put media practitioners on the priority list to receive vaccines clearly proves the recognition and appreciation of the media's role in the war against the COVID-19 pandemic, said the Johor Media Club (JMC).

In welcoming the move, JMC president Mohamad Fauzi Ishak said the announcement was in line with the role of media personnel as one of the frontline groups who risk getting infected when carrying out their duties.

"After the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme began, the Johor Media Club took the initial initiative by collecting the details and names of media personnel and subsequently submitting them to the Health Ministry.

"Therefore, following this announcement, the Johor Media Club is once again ready to cooperate with the National COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) so that the vaccination process for Johor media personnel can be expedited," he said in a statement here today.

A total of 130 media personnel from 18 media agencies and companies are registered with the JMC.

VACCINE-MEDIA 2 (LAST) - JOHOR BAHRU

Meanwhile, Pakatan Harapan chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, in his Twitter post today, also urged the government to speed up the vaccination of media personnel.

"They are frontline staff, responsible for conveying information to the people. The responsibility they bear is able to shape public opinion," he tweeted.

Yesterday, National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced that 5,867 media personnel from 114 registered media agencies would receive COVID-19 vaccine injections soon.

He said appointments would be given out as soon as possible after the CITF received their details.

-- BERNAMA