KJ: Special cert for those with legitimate medical reason to decline vaccine
PARLIAMENT | Those with legitimate medical reasons not to take the Covid-19 vaccine need to get confirmation from their doctor and can apply for a special digital certificate on MySejahtera, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
Khairy (BN-Rembau) said this in Parliament in a reply to a written question from Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis (Warisan-Kota Belud) who asked how can those who can’t be vaccinated move around now as restrictions are being eased.
“Those who can’t get vaccinated due to medical reasons can apply...
PARLIAMENT | Those with legitimate medical reasons not to take the Covid-19 vaccine need to get confirmation from their doctor and can apply for a special digital certificate on MySejahtera, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
Khairy (BN-Rembau) said this in Parliament in a reply to a written question from Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis (Warisan-Kota Belud) who asked how can those who can’t be vaccinated move around now as restrictions are being eased.
“Those who can’t get vaccinated due to medical reasons can apply for a certificate of exemption on MySejahtera and verify this at the nearest (District) Health Office.
"This is in relation to individuals who cannot be vaccinated due to medical factors such as allergies to vaccines. The individual must obtain confirmation from the registered physician who treats the individual.
"Physicians may advise taking vaccines of other types, which are appropriate and this is in the Health Ministry's clinical guidelines for Covid-19 vaccination," Khairy (above) said.
He said that if a person is found to be allergic to the Pfizer vaccine, for example, another type of vaccine such as Sinovac may be given.
He added that if it is confirmed the individual cannot take any type of Covid-19 vaccine for medical reasons, the individual must adhere to the SOPs more strictly.
"Wear a face mask, ensure social distancing, frequent hand washing and other precautions because the individual is more at risk of getting Covid-19 infection," he said.
He said those who could make such evaluations are private hospital personnel, medical professionals in the absence of a doctor at government hospitals or family doctors at government clinics.
“If these individuals meet these criteria, their application for this digital certificate will be approved through MySejahtera within the week," he said.
Khairy added that according to the latest data in the Health Ministry's
CovidNow website, 94.3 percent of the adult population have received at least one dose and 87.6 percent have been fully vaccinated.
"So the number of those who have not yet received the vaccine is very, very small among the adult population," he said.
Dealing with anti-vaxxers
Isnaraissah in a second question asked how the government is tackling the issue of anti-vaxxers and vaccine-hesitant individuals.
"For those who are still adamant not to receive the vaccine, we have also announced that some freedom will only be given to those who have received a complete vaccination," Khairy said.
With this approach, he hoped that those who are still adamant will, on their own initiative, try to get more information about the vaccines.
He said the ministry is always ready to provide information regarding the effectiveness of the vaccines.
"Today we will upload on the Health Ministry website information regarding serious side effects so that the people can see in terms of serious side effects, there are not many.
"And so far, there has not been a single death caused by the Covid-19 vaccine," he added.
Khairy cited other actions such as the policy statement that vaccination is mandatory for civil servants, and that hopefully, the private sector would follow suit.
'No wrong door policy'
Khairy added that the vaccination policy is a 'no wrong door' policy.
This means those who have no Malaysian citizenship or documentation but are residing in Malaysia can walk into any vaccination centre to get vaccinated.
"It doesn’t matter whether they have documentation or not. I myself have been to Semporna recently. At the vaccination centre, there were some with no documents at all, but we gave them.
"What is important now is not their immigration status but public health," he said.
Khairy said that if one has no digital way of proving their vaccination status, they may use their physical vaccination card instead.
"If you have no smartphone, you can use the vaccination card given at the vaccination centre as proof.
“If this card is lost, go to the nearest (District) Health Office to report the loss, and we will give you a new card,” he added.
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