KUALA LUMPUR – The government’s RM10 million fund allocation to compensate those who experience severe side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine will help bolster public confidence and trust, said the Malaysian Health Coalition (MHC).
However, MHC said the management of the fund must be transparent to safeguard the public trust, and there should be clarity on the compensation eligibility and application for reimbursement should they require additional medical care post-vaccination.
“The government must include these details in their vaccine communications to demystify the vaccination process and combat hesitancy.
“The government must maximise its effort in building public trust by ensuring each step of the vaccination process is clear, transparent, and easily understood by the public,” it said in a statement today.
The coalition also urged the government to regularly publish the adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) reports to dispel rumours and increase vaccine confidence.
It said Malaysia should join countries like Norway and South Korea where adverse drug reactions are updated weekly in a publicly accessible online registry.
“Regular reporting of this data will help to enhance public understanding of the vaccine. Besides that, the government must encourage the rakyat to report any adverse events, including updating MySejahtera to be one reporting channel,” it added.
On March 22, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba announced that the government has allocated an initial fund of RM10 million for special financial assistance to Malaysians and foreigners who experienced adverse side effects after being vaccinated under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme.
The fund, under the National Disaster Relief Trust Fund (KWABBN), will be managed by the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA).
Under the allocation, vaccine recipients who suffer serious side effects that require long-term hospital treatment would receive RM50,000, while a RM500,000 aid would be given in the event of death or permanent disability due to COVID vaccination.
New groups to be added
Meanwhile in a related development, Coordinating Minister for the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme, Khairy Jamaluddin has said that several new groups of recipients for the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination will be announced on Monday.
Khairy who is also Science, Technology and Innovation Minister said several new groups categorised as economic frontliners and other groups would be added as vaccine recipients in the second phase after it was agreed at the Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee level.
He said the matter was allowed as registration for the second phase was not full (at achieving target) so the committee decided to give priority to other categories.
“But I wish to stress here that senior citizens and high risk groups with chronic diseases and disabilities are still being given priority in the second phase,” he said.
He was speaking at a media conference after paying a courtesy call on Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shariat at the State Secretariat building here today.
The second phase of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme will be carried out from April to August 2021.
Khairy said the government would also be adding more vaccination centres in phase two and three to expedite the process.
“It also depends on the delivery of vaccine from abroad so that when we have received more vaccine doses, we would be able to step up vaccination which would need bigger vaccination centres,” he said.
In this regard, he said dispensing vaccine would be extended to certain industrial areas especially in factories in Selangor which have many workers.
“We will list the factories and will cooperate with the companies concerned to implement vaccination at the factories or worker hostels so that they do not need to come out to any vaccination centres involving members of the public,” he said.
Khairy said Selangor is the state with the highest registration for COVID-19 vaccine.
“In terms of the ratio of registration to the targeted population, the national level is at 26.9 per cent while Selangor reached almost 40 per cent and it showed the high level of awareness in the state,” he said.
He said cooperation with the state government would continue to encourage more registration including
making house visits and opening counters at public places.
Meanwhile, Amirudin said Selangor has so far carried out dispensing vaccine to more than 83 per cent recipients under first phase of vaccination for the first dose.
“We have about 4,000 more first dose recipients to go and it maybe completed in April,” he said.
