KUCHING: The Sarawak Patriots Association (SPA) is concerned over the lack of developments in the opening of additional vaccination centres in the state.
“While the usage of mega PPVs (vaccination centres) is a strategy that could work in a high-density urban area, it is bound to fail in Sarawak, where the majority of people are living in semi-urban and rural areas,” said association chairman Datuk Dr John Lau Pang Heng.
He said they had received feedback from the people that it would be much more convenient to have their vaccine shots at their local general practitioner (GP) clinics or Klinik Kesihatan that they are already familiar with.
“We believe this will remove one of the factors contributing towards vaccine hesitancy in Sarawak. Having a familiar face deliver the vaccine will help make our people more comfortable and have more trust in the vaccination process,” he said today (June 2).
He said the feedback from the people also included asking the government to simplify the vaccination registration exercise.
“Allow elderly persons to get their vaccination by walking into a vaccination centre to get his or her vaccination,” he urged.
Lau said the association had also been made to understand that many people who went for their vaccination shots ended up requiring to have their details in MySejahtera updated, such as their IC number or mobile phone number.
He hoped this was not an impediment in the rollout of vaccinations through private health facilities.
“If so, we hope the relevant parties can expedite fixing the application and its data to make it work as soon as possible. It is ridiculous that a digital application can magically alter information that is keyed in by the users,” he said.
He added that this indicated manual intervention, which would introduce errors into the date.
“We have had more than a year to prepare for this, and yet vaccine rollout so far has shown a lack of planning and foresight,” he lamented.
