KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 — The government has issued new guidelines on who will be eligible for Covid-19 vaccination priority, Khairy Jamaluddin said today, after complaints on politicians cutting the queue.
The vaccines minister mentioned that the guidelines will specify clearly recipients who can get Covid-19 vaccines in the first phase of the national vaccination programme that targets frontliners.
“What happened was during some of the state level launches, some people who were not supposed to receive the vaccines managed to get themselves registered. So the guidelines will clearly state who is eligible and who is not yet eligible for the vaccination under phase one,” Khairy told a press meet today.
“Now, officers of ministers, officers of state exco, officers of Menteri Besar, even the political secretaries, are not included in phase one.”
According to the guidelines Khairy tweeted, frontline workers comprise two categories: those directly involved in health care and medical treatment, covering Ministry of Health and Defence Ministry facilities, as well as teaching hospitals, and private hospitals.
The second category comprises those involved in the health sector, defence agencies, as well as members of security and essential services.
The first category includes technical members (management and professionals, paramedics, and auxiliary) who are involved in patient care in health facilities, handling patients’ specimens, environmental disinfection, public health control in the field, and directly interacting with the public. These people comprise officers who interact directly with the public or handle patients’ specimens, whether in medical or public health working in public or private hospitals or clinics.
Members of the technical group also include staff at the state health department, district health office, and other facilities like the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre.
The first category of frontline workers also includes administrators in health facilities involved in pandemic control who communicate directly with the public, like counter supervisors.
Technical members are defined as bellow:
Management and professionals
- Medical officer
- Dental officer
- Pharmacy officer
- Science officer
- Environmental health officer
Paramedics and auxiliary
- Nurse
- Medical assistant
- Environmental health assistant
- Pharmacy assistant
- X-ray technician
- Medical laboratory technician
- Health care assistant
- Driver
- Public health assistant
The second category of frontline workers comprises:
- Health sector (general practitioners, private dentists, complementary and traditional medical practitioners, registered private laboratories)
- Security officers (the police, Malaysian Armed Forces, General Operations Force, Malaysia Civil Defence Force, Prisons Department, Immigration Department, Fire and Rescue Department, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, Rela)
- Social services (like the Social Welfare Department)
- Customs Department
- Ministry of Health contractors (like cleaning or security services)
- Haemodialysis service operators
- Primary and secondary school teachers who suffer more than one chronic disease
- Cabinet ministers
- State executive councillors
- Members of Parliament
- State assemblymen
- Government officers involved in Cabinet ministers’ official visits overseas
Khairy added that he would also consider including certain groups like community pharmacists in the first phase of the coronavirus inoculation drive.
He also stated that he has been receiving complaints on the affiliates of politicians, including family members, who have been included in the first phase of the Covid-19 immunisation programme.
“So, cannot jump the queue, don’t jump the queue. Family members of state exco, of Menteri Besar, spouses, are not in the list,” he said, adding that the only politicians shortlisted for vaccination in the first phase are elected representatives.
The science, technology and innovation minister also said if needed, the government may empower the Ministry of Health (MOH) to compound people who cut the queue for shots.
It is to be noted that the first phase of Covid-19 immunisation programme has placed health care workers as the first recipients of the vaccine, followed by high-risk groups that include the elderly and those with chronic diseases.
Khairy also said he ensured that those who are not eligible to get vaccinated in phase one have been excluded from the list.
