KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — Khairy Jamaluddin today encouraged the public to take videos of their Covid-19 injections at vaccination centres (PPVs) as incontrovertible proof of their jabs, amid recent reports of empty syringe incidences.
The vaccine minister in a media briefing said effective today, vaccinees can take videos of their Covid-19 vaccine injections to make sure they have received their doses completely. Prior to the latest announcement, most PPVs did not allow vaccinees to take video recordings of their jabs, and photos were only allowed at waiting areas.
“Go and film yourselves and take a video of your vaccination so that you have hard proof, and we also have hard proof that you’ve received the proper dosage of your vaccination,” Khairy said.
Additionally, Khairy said vaccine administrators at PPVs are required to follow strict procedures set by the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF), which include showing the content of the syringe before and after doses are administered, to vaccinees, to remove doubt.
“I hope this issue ends here because I do not want it to affect frontliners in carrying out their duties. I take every single complaint from the public seriously and I don’t want to downplay this, because even if there is one single error, that’s one error too much to me,” said the coordinating minister of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK).
“Of course, human negligence happens everywhere around the world. I can show a list of errors that take place in other countries – some get incomplete doses, others get five to six doses — but of course, two wrongs don’t make a right.
“So, for those cases in which there were human negligence, I apologise to them and of course, we will do better. But I hope that the Malaysian public, and everyone who comes to our vaccination centres, will continue to support the hard work of the frontliners.
“Take a video and when you get your vaccine, look at it. Don’t look away. Look at it and make sure you’re getting the right dose,” Khairy said.
He said there have been only 13 police reports made on empty syringes to date, out of over 16 million doses the country has administered cumulatively.
“While the CITF takes this matter very seriously and that everyone should be vaccinated with the right doses, for people to conclude that our frontliners are involved in a syndicate is untrue.
“Even if there is one case, we will take it seriously. But I want to put into context, that out of 16 million jabs, there have been only 13 police reports made, and most of them have proven to be false and inconclusive,” Khairy said.
He added that the police have confirmed that there are no links between empty syringes and vaccine-selling syndicates.
Khairy said some police reports on empty syringes were made on the basis that the vaccinee did not experience any side effects.
“I want to state that side effects are different for every individual. I didn’t get any side effects and my vaccination was done publicly so there is no issue (on the syringe being empty).
“For these cases, we checked with the doctors or nurses at the Bukit Jalil PPV and USCI PPV where the health administrators said they have given perfect doses and the vaccinees have no proof other than they have no side effects,” Khairy said.
However, Khairy said there was one case at the Sungai Petani Air Base PPV, where the nurse admitted to negligence due to tiredness.
“The nurse admitted it was her fault and a warning by the Defence Force Chief has been issued since it took place at a military base, and the nurse will face disciplinary action by the Health Ministry (MOH),” he said.
In two separate cases at a PPV in Banting and another at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC) mega PPV, vaccinees were given extra doses as there was confusion over whether the doses were administered or not, Khairy said.
“I would like to urge the public to understand the context of these cases and to ensure that we preserve the integrity of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, and also the integrity of the thousands of nurses, doctors and frontliners who are risking their lives vaccinating at a rate of half a million doses a day.
“And if there are errors, we do not blame the entire programme, we do not blame all frontliners who are sacrificing themselves on a daily basis for us to control this pandemic,” he said.
