KJ: Guideline drafted to address Covid-19 vaccine 'queue jumping'
UPDATED 6PM | Added full text of the guidelines.
COVID-19 | The Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV) has come up with a guideline for vaccinators to identify categories of frontliners eligible for vaccination in the ongoing first phase, said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
Khairy said the guideline, which he signed together with Health Minister Dr Adham Baba, was drafted to address the issue of "queue jumping" among eligible recipients.
"This document specifies in detail who the frontliners are. We will make it available online.
"The issue of queue jumping will no longer arise when there is this clear guideline," said Khairy, who was speaking after a committee meeting today.
According to the guideline, the frontliners at risk of contracting and spreading Covid-19 are divided into two categories, the first being those with direct involvement in screening, transporting, treating and caring of Covid-19 patients at all designated facilities.
The first category also comprised frontliners in contact with Covid-19 test samples including at private facilities; medical, dental, pharmaceutical and lab officers; as well as paramedics and auxiliary support staff.
Meanwhile, the second category covers a larger group who are at risk but not directly exposed, including general practitioners, private dentists, complementary medicine practitioners and private laboratory staff.
It also identified 11 other groups of non-health frontliners including security personnel, the National Welfare Department, haemodialysis centre operators, and teachers with co-morbidities.
Khairy also stressed that only ministers and elected representatives are included in the new guideline for phase one, while others, including their staff and family members, will have to wait in line.
The JKJAV's co-chairperson yesterday called for whistleblowers to come forward amid more complaints of alleged queue-cutting attempts for the Covid-19 vaccine.
He was responding to consultant physician and nephrologist Dr Rafidah Abdullah who highlighted complaints that officials from the Kelantan state secretariat were trying to jump the queue ahead of medical frontliners.
"It was not a flaw in the registration process. I think there was a lack of clarity so people just tried their luck and they managed to get in.
"But their numbers are very small. We have managed to ensure all these people who are not a part of phase one are excluded from the list now," he said.
Khairy also announced that JKJAV has set-up a sub-committee to look into requests from groups seeking to be recognised as frontliners, for example, community pharmacists.
Prior to the start of phase one, other reported requests for early vaccination had come from media groups and consumer rights groups.
As of 11am today, Khairy said 1,468,137 individuals had registered for vaccination via the MySejahtera application, representing 6.1 percent of the 80 percent target needed to achieve herd immunity.
A total of 17,064 individuals have received their first dose of Pfizer vaccine, with nearly half or 7,402 coming from Sarawak.
