by AZREEN HANI / pic by BERNAMA

UP TO 1.1 million non-Malaysians without proper documentation, or “stateless” individuals, have completed their Covid-19 vaccination up until Aug 31 this year.

Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba told the Dewan Rakyat that this is a result of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NCIP).

The implementation of the NCIP targets 80% of the country’s adult population, including non-citizens, to be vaccinated, he said.

“The Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) also introduced walk-in vaccination method to non-citizens in selected PPVs (vaccination centres), namely PPV Stadium Bukit Jalil from Aug 9, 2021, to August 23, 2021.

“Now, those non-citizens who want to get a dose injection should get appointments in the MySejahtera system,” he said.

For non-citizens without valid documents, taking into account the recommendations of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the CITF is recording the data collection of illegal immigrants (PATI), refugees under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the “stateless” through the generation of unique IDs in the MySejahtera system, the minister said in a written reply.

“Implementation of vaccination for illegal immigrants, UNHCR refugees and stateless people in the suburbs and the inferior areas are made via the outreach programme, especially in Sabah and Sarawak,” Dr Adham added.

Touching on the mobile vaccination programme, the minister said Movak (Community Vaccine Mobilisation) — a joint initiative between the Ministry of Housing and Local Government and the Ministry of National Unity — was mobilised in Peninsular Malaysia to create a deep support ecosystem that speeds up the process of vaccinating the community.

“Movak targets the implementation of vaccination for adolescents in the People’s Housing Project areas subject to the decision of the Health Ministry,” Dr Adham added.

In total, a total of 84,868 injection doses were allocated for this programme.

Movak Outreach Programme began on Aug 21 and has been implemented in seven states — Perlis, Kedah, Penang, Perak, Negri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor.

Commenting on vaccination rate in Sabah, Dr Adham noted only four districts in Sabah have reached 80% vaccination rate — Putatan, Beaufort, Kuala Penyu and Kota Kinabalu. Two districts have yet to reach 40% vaccination rate, namely Tongod and Kinabatangan.

Separately, Mosti told the Dewan Rakyat that Malaysia received donations of up to 2.91 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, covering 1.4 million Malaysians. All of the donated vaccines were included in the supply stock under the NCIP.

Four countries – Japan, China, US and the UK — donated AstraZeneca, Sinovac and Pfizer vaccines to the country. The US is the biggest donor with slightly more than a million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, Japan with 998,400 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, China with 500,000 of the Sinovac vaccine and the UK with 415,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“The government of Malaysia has an agreement with vaccine-contributing countries that do not allow any sale of vaccines to any third party,” Mosti said.

The ministry reiterated that all vaccines are effective in combating the Covid virus, although it noted that the efficacy may wear off after quite some time.

“Therefore, the government has agreed to carry out the administration of a third dose specifically to certain groups, especially those at high risk, and further details will be released by the Ministry of Health.”