CITF to contact everyone registered for AstraZeneca by Selangor govt without their consent

PETALING JAYA: Mass bookings for the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine were made by the Selangor government for individuals in its ImuniSel database without informing them first.

This was why some individuals received appointments for the vaccination although they did not consent to be registered for the AstraZeneca opt-in programme.

To solve this problem, each of the signed-up individuals will be contacted by the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) to obtain their consent to be in the AstraZeneca vaccine programme.

This was ascertained after a meeting between National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin and Selangor Mentri Besar Amiruddin Shari on Sunday (May 30) at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (Mitec).

Previously, the CITF had accused SELangkah, Selangor’s health platform, of making block bookings in large quantities for AstraZeneca vaccinations without checking with the individuals concerned.

CITF claimed that this had resulted in the change of appointments for those who had been given earlier dates at the vaccination centres under the mainstream national immunisation programme.

In a joint statement, Amiruddin and Khairy said that the ImuniSel programme was launched by the Selangor government to register vaccines for those who have limited digital access and that each individual had consented to being in the mainstream programme.

“However, as already announced by the CITF, vaccine reservations for AstraZeneca is made voluntarily upon consent and understanding of each individual on the vaccine.

“Thus, registration for the AstraZeneca vaccine requires a different consent from other vaccines that are in the mainstream programme.

“Due to AstraZeneca registrations being made by ImuniSel without the participants’ knowledge, there are some individuals who have previously received vaccination appointments under the national immunisation programme having these replaced by a new appointment for the AstraZeneca vaccine, ” it said.

Therefore, ImuniSEL has agreed to submit a list of names of those registered for AstraZeneca and they will be contacted by the CITF to obtain their consent prior to receiving the vaccine.

For those who do not agree to the new AstraZeneca appointment, their previous appointment for NIP will be reinstated, said the statement.

“There are also some individuals who received an AstraZeneca vaccine appointment through registrations made by a third party like family members or their employers.

“To solve this problem, an additional feature in the MySejahtera app will be developed in the near future to enable affected individuals who had their previous appointments being replaced by new appointments, to be able to give feedback and receive an immediate solution.

“There was no manipulation of the system by SELangkah as claimed by some parties, ” said the statement.

It added that the discussion, which was carried out in a harmonious manner, also agreed to increase strategic cooperation between Selangor and the CITF to enable the national immunisation programme to be rolled out in an orderly manner and for herd immunity to be achieved.

On plans to increase the daily rate of vaccination in Selangor, it has been agreed that mega-scale vaccine dispensing centres (PPVs) will be opened in several locations around the state.

“These PPVs will open in stages starting the second week of June, ” it said.