KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 — Low-income Malaysians living outside the Klang Valley, without adequate public transport, may find it difficult to access mass Covid-19 vaccination centres, Rajiv Rishyakaran said today.
The Bukit Gasing state assemblyman from Selangor also highlighted his experience of receiving his shot at Sunway Convention Centre in Petaling Jaya that required walking from where he parked his car to the facility, a “huge hassle” for senior citizens and people with disabilities.
“If mega vaccination centres are set up, even assuming one in each district or state, then there will be a lot of travelling for this group. This is especially harder in states where public transport is not an option like it is in the Klang Valley, this may result in highly burdening them with expensive travelling fees,” Rajiv said in a statement today.
Rajiv instead suggested that the government increase the number of small vaccination centres throughout the country to inoculate more people easily. He said this measure will help the elderly community travel less in order to receive their Covid-19 shots.
“Setting up many small centres would also satisfy the objective of vaccinating more people while ensuring social distancing is in place without straining the people.”
Rajiv also raised a question on the expenditure in setting up larger Covid-19 vaccination centres, as he pointed out that the government can utilise existing resources like government buildings, such as local council halls and local public health clinics.
Vaccine Minister Khairy Jamaluddin reportedly said he would discuss with Perak Mentri Besar Saarani Mohamad on setting up a larger Covid-19 vaccination centre in Ipoh, as the Indera Mulia Stadium can only accommodate 1,400 people per day.
Khairy told CodeBlue in an interview last month that Covid-19 vaccination sites (PPV), currently numbering at 1,400 nationwide, would range from smaller PPV in villages that can administer shots to a few hundred people daily to mega PPV in cities, of which the biggest one is simulated to vaccinate about 8,000 people a day. Malaysia’s biggest PPV will likely be located at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.
