PETALING JAYA: As registrations for the second round of opt-ins for the AstraZeneca vaccine opens up for those aged 60 and above at noon Sunday (May 23), tech-savvy young ones are gearing up to help enrol the senior citizens.
Public health expert Dr Helmi Zakariah, who is also a member of the Selangor Task Force for Covid-19 (STF), announced on Twitter on Friday (May 21) that he had a list of more than 5,000 senior citizens to register for the vaccine.
“Calling all digital army volunteers to help me book a slot for senior citizens aged 60 and above for their vaccine. Drop me a DM (direct message), ” he said.
1/2: Calling all digital army volunteers to help me book a slot for Senior Citizens aged 60 and above for their vaccine. Drop me a DM. I got a list of >5k elderly with IT-literacy. From d last mad rush exp, i sempat book for 10 of them only.@DhesiMD @michellengms u game? https://t.co/58Njn6F2sD — Helmi Zakariah, MD MPH (@mohdhelmi) May 20,2021
Dr Helmi said that during the first round of AstraZeneca bookings, which saw 268,000 doses snapped up within three hours, he only managed to book slots for 10 people in his list of over 5,000 senior citizens.
Dr Helmi also asked the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee (JKJAV) on Twitter if he could just give his list to them for the committee to do batch uploads.
“Because it reeks of health inequity when life-saving meds can only be reached by those yang ‘celik IT’ (tech savvy), ” he wrote.
Meanwhile, on Facebook, Dr Rusyainie Ramli, who actively shares medical knowledge with her social media followers, also called upon the public to spread information on how to register their elderly family members for the AstraZeneca vaccine.
She advised people to write down details of their elderly family members’ MyKad number, birth dates and phone numbers on a piece of paper.
“Come Sunday, just type it out on the website. For Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca), the system works in the way that whoever is fastest will get a slot, so don’t delay.
“If you succeed, the appointment date and location selected will be informed via the MySejahtera app, ” she wrote on May 21.
Dr Rusyainie also explained that for this round, only the states listed could register, which included Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang, Johor and Sarawak.
“God willing, more AstraZeneca vaccine stocks will be arriving. We just need to wait for the announcement from YB KJ (Coordinating Minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Khairy Jamaluddin), ” she wrote.
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