Is this the right way to carry out vaccination?
Published on: Sunday, August 01, 2021
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The scene at the Putatan vaccination centre.
The female cousin (who registered since April) went to Dewan Sri Putatan that Saturday afternoon, secured a spot, then waited about three hours before managing to get her vaccine.
The two cousin sisters went there at around 3 and was told that the 300 slots for walk-in were finished, so the Rela on duty advised them to come the next day at 2pm, where another 300 slots would be opened up.
When asked if they could leave their names and numbers to be called for the next batch of walk-in appointments, the Rela said that no names or numbers will be taken because doing so was in contravention of the standard procedure for PPVs nationwide.
They advised my cousin sisters to come the next day and assured them there will be 300 slots available.
On Sunday, the two cousin sisters decided that they would try their luck there as well, with the 29 year-old bringing her 35 year-old fiancé and his 32 year-old diabetic younger sister who stays in Likas. All four of them were registered either in February or early March and had not received their appointments yet.
That afternoon, a crowd of at least 600–if not more–showed up, many lining up under the blazing sun and without any social distancing.
One of the Rela did ask to maintain social distancing, but as they did not enforce it strictly, the line soon crowded together again. After standing for close to an hour and finally reaching the registration table, the four of them were then told by the medical officer handling the registering station that all of Sunday’s registrations would only be given a jab earliest by Tuesday and latest by the end of next week, as there were too many people who registered.
When asked why none of Sunday’s registrants would be given one of the 300 slots that were said to be available, the medical officer responded by saying that those slots were all given to those who had registered the day prior (Saturday).
My cousin then questioned why the Rela said on Saturday that taking names was in contravention of the national procedure, to which the medical officer simply replied that the registration counter had been taken down for the day.
Despite the disappointment of not being able to get vaccinated on that day after enduring the hot sun, the massive crowd, and the empty promises, the four of them still wrote down their full name, IC number, phone number, age, and district. My cousin provided some photographs (which I have attached) that clearly show the lack of social distancing and the sheer madness of the situation.
There were plenty of elderly among the queue and the person in front of my cousin helped their friends and family to register the names too, thereby making the wait much longer. My cousin was very disappointed because the amount of people could potentially hasten the spread and outbreak of Covid-19 if there were asymptomatic people around the crowd.
The chances, she says, are highly likely based on the national average of 1 in 33 people getting infected with Covid (picture by MediaSelangor attached). With 600 people there, even 1 asymptomatic person is already 1 person too many, since one person can potentially spread the infection to anyone there and thus spark a new cluster that originated from the PPV.
My 19 year-old cousin is still eager to go if she were to be called, but my 29 year-old cousin is more wary and felt bad that her fiancé’s diabetic younger sister had to go through so much risk with nothing to show. For now, they are monitoring their health until they get a call.
A news report detailing the events with information that differs slightly from that which was relayed to my cousins is provided by The Vibes [Reference 2, see below]. In their report, walk-ins supposedly began as early as 8pm with 400 slots available but had been taken up already in the morning (re Ahmad Maladi and his brother), and frontliners were actually allowed to take names and numbers (re anonymous frontliner).
Paraphrasing my cousin, she has six questions to be asked:
1. Where did the PPV get 300 doses daily available for walk-in if the national standard procedure is to only do MySejahtera appointments?
2. Why did the Rela not do any crowd control and enforce social distancing guidelines?
3. Why is the Putatan PPV system different from the systems available in other PPVs, like Dewan Mini Putrajaya, for example, where elderly parents all managed to get their vaccine?
4. Why is the NIP so slow in Sabah that people who have registered earlier on, including some elderly or with comorbidity, have yet to get their appointment?
5. Can the Sabah government give an assurance that ALL who have registered for the vaccine in February and March get their appointments sooner, as they were the ones who have registered the earliest?
6. Why is there different conflicting information given by various different sources (e.g. minister Shahelmy’s statement vs what is actually happening) when this is a matter of public health and safety?
I believe all Sabahans want clarity on this issue as everyone who has registered early want to get their jabs soon, especially when so many of the 18 and above are recently getting their appointments despite registering much later.
Equally important is the fact that PPV clusters should not be allowed to happen as in Selangor. We, and my cousins especially, would be very grateful if Daily Express can air our grouses on this very pressing issue and hope that this will bring to light what is happening in Sabah.
"At the time of publishing, the Putatan PPV has not made any calls to them, which means that their entire exercise of braving the hot sun and putting themselves at risk of infection has been absolutely futile. They have decided to just wait for their appointments, however long that might take, as they have no intention of putting themselves in such a risky situation ever again."
CS
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