KUALA LUMPUR: Younger people who have been given vaccination appointments under the second phase of the Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme (NIP) are those with co-morbidities as well as people with disabilities (OKU).
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said this in response to claims that healthy young people are receiving vaccines earlier than older people (aged 60 and above) under the NIP.
"There is no such thing - that younger people are being prioritised (in phase two). We have successfully completed phase one involving frontliners, where all of them have received both doses of the vaccine.
"Phase two of the vaccination drive targets the elderly as well as those with co-morbidity problems, and people with disabilities.
"Younger people, aged 18 and above with underlying health conditions such as asthma, hypertension and respiratory diseases, are also included in this phase. They given appointments due to their illnesses.
"It is unfair to say that all those below 60 years of age are not eligible for the vaccine under phase two (of the NIP)," he told the New Straits Times.
Dr Adham said the ministry was also working hard to get people aged 60 to register under the NIP soon, to achieve the phase two target of administering the vaccine to 9.4 million senior citizens aged 60 and above, as well as those with co-morbidities and the OKU.
He assured that those eligible for the vaccine under this phase and who have already registered, would receive their appointments and jabs before the phase (which began in April) ends in August this year.
He further said the authorities were currently working to verify addresses before giving out the appointments.
"There are instances where the person lives in Taman Anggerik, Selangor, but there is also a Taman Anggerik in Johor. Therefore, we need to verify postcodes and ensure that people put in the correct details on MySejahtera so that we can assign them to the nearest vaccination centre."
Disgruntled Malaysians recently took to social media to claim that the elderly, aged 50 and above who registered in February, have yet to receive their vaccination appointments. However, it was claimed that their children and younger siblings have received their appointments, with some already receiving their jabs.
They also wondered if there had been a technical glitch in the system in sending out the appointments to registrants.
Meanwhile, Dr Adham said as of June 18, a total of 5,510,720 doses of Covid-19 vaccines comprising first and second shots, had been given.
He said this involved 3,957,687 people who received their first dose and 1,553,033 who received their second dose.
On daily vaccinations under ther National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, Dr Adham said a total of 180,066 doses were given on June 18, involving 147,616 first dose recipients and 32,450 recipients for the second dose.
He also shared on Twitter that the five states that recorded the highest number of vaccine recipients, having completed both doses, were Selangor with 202,143 individuals, followed by Sarawak (174,545); Johor (151,140), Perak (144,086) and Kuala Lumpur (141,045).
Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee (JKJAV) reported that a total of 14,877,336 vaccine registrations were recorded as of June 18.