S’gor MB to meet Khairy over CITF vs Selangkah ‘misunderstanding’
Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari will be meeting Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) chief Khairy Jamaluddin over the task force’s allegation against a state government initiative.
Yesterday, CITF blamed Selangor’s Selangkah system for causing technical problems with the widely-panned AstraZeneca online appointment booking system on May 26.
Selangkah has denied the charge.
Amirudin said today that there had been a “misunderstanding” and will seek to resolve it with Khairy behind closed doors.
“I just communicated with Khairy (sorry I don’t have a photograph of me holding a telephone) about CITF and Selangkah’s statements yesterday, there was a misunderstanding in yesterday’s statement.
“He has invited me to meet him tomorrow so that we can coordinate our work better moving forward.
“Why battle in the media when this is something we can discuss,” he tweeted this afternoon.
Khairy oversees the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) and is also the science, technology and innovation minister.
Saya baru berkomunikasi dgn YB @Khairykj (maaf tiada foto pegang telefon) ttg kenyataan CITF & Selangkah, terdapat salah faham dlm kenyataan smlm. Esok beliau undang saya utk bertemu bagi selaras gerak kerja yg lebih padu di hari muka. Benda boleh bincang kenapa nak war di media.
CITF vs Selangkah
CITF was heavily criticised for last Wednesday’s AstraZeneca vaccine appointment booking system on the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access (JKJAV) website.
The opt-in slots were for adults between 18 and 60. Many were unable to complete their bookings despite trying numerous times and on multiple devices.
Some later managed to get appointments despite not completing their booking. Others were given an AstraZeneca appointment despite never making any bookings.
This led to questions about how the government’s RM70 million budget for the vaccine appointment system was used.
Following an investigation, CITF claimed that Selangkah was responsible for the confusion as it had allegedly made bulk bookings for people without their prior consent.
“Selangkah has informed that they have booked AstraZeneca slots without first checking whether individuals in its ImuniSel database had agreed to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine, thus it replaced their earlier appointments if they already have one.
“Selangkah has assured its cooperation with CITF to resolve this issue and ensure that individuals involved get their original appointments.
“The problems that arise will be overcome as best as possible and CITF will cooperate with various parties to ensure more people will get vaccinated and herd immunity can be achieved,” it had claimed.
ImuniSel is the Selangor government’s vaccine outreach programme that helps residents, especially those with limited IT skills or access, register for NIP.
Selangkah CEO Tengku Iesta Tengku Alaudin later retorted that his firm did not make any AstraZeneca bookings on May 26.
Neither was it contacted by CITF as the latter claimed.
“Selangkah will not hesitate to take legal action against any party that makes false accusations aimed at tarnishing our reputation,” Iesta had warned.
