PUTRAJAYA – Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today said that the dispensing of the COVID-19 vaccine should be completed as soon as possible to mitigate infection and inadvertently revive the country’s economic growth and people’s livelihood.
As such, he called on all Malaysians and foreigners residing in the country to register on the MySejahtera application to receive the vaccine.
“The sooner they are vaccinated, the more protected their health will be and this may help us to reduce the number of COVID-19 infection cases in the country and revive our livelihood and the country’s economic growth faster.”
Muhyiddin said this to reporters after completing his second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the Putrajaya Health Clinic at Precinct 18 here today. The Prime Minister received his first dose on Feb 24.
Also receiving their second dose today were Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, Dr Tan Yee Ling, Sheilla Mellissa Sikin, Khairul Asraf Mohd Yasin and Clement a/l Marai Francis who were among the earliest recipients of the vaccine under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme which was launched on Feb 24.
The second dose of the vaccine was given to the recipients 21 days after they received their first dose.
According to Muhyiddin, over 5.6 million people have registered for COVID vaccination with 360,000 of them had been vaccinated so far.
“More people will register for vaccination and the Ministry of Health is expected to receive more vaccine supply in the near future.
“And we have distributed the supply to all states and those who have registered will be given the shots according to the priority list,” he said.
On the dose he received today, Muhyiddin said he had also be given the smart vaccination card verifying that he had completed the COVID vaccine dosage.
“The card can be used for travel purposes.
“If any security authority wanted to know whether I have completed the second dose or not, I can just show them the card and they can scan it and a voice will tell them that I have completed the vaccine dosage,” he said.
Proof of vaccination
Meanwhile in a related development, individuals who have completed the vaccine dose will be given the MY COVID-19 Vaccination Badge as proof that they have received the vaccine, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba.
He said that Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who received the second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine today after receiving the first shot on Feb 24, would be the first individual to receive the badge.
In a joint press conference with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan here today, Dr Adham said that the unique badge was equipped with a security code.
“The Ministry of Health (MOH) will not only issue a vaccination certificate on the MySejahtera application but we will also issue a badge indicating who has completed the vaccination. This is to certify anyone who has been vaccinated by COVID-19 vaccine,” he said.
Dr Adham said that today, the 21st day of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme, a total of 346,508 individuals have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, about 69.3 per cent of the total target number of first phase vaccine recipients – 500,000 people.
“This is very good achievement and the MOH is confident that the first phase (of vaccination exercise), which will end at the end of April, will be implemented smoothly,” he said.
He also said that about 5.7 million people have registered for the vaccination exercise via the MySejahtera application, with 12.6 per cent being aged 60 and above and 19.6 per cent of them having comorbidities.
About 25.9 per cent of the total registrants would be vaccinated in the second phase of the country’s largest vaccination exercise, he said.
