IN a rare move, the Government has decided to offer free COVID-19 vaccination to all foreigners living in Malaysia.
“In line with the theme of our National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme, which is ‘no one is safe unless everyone is safe’, the Cabinet has agreed to extend the free vaccines to all foreigners living in Malaysia,” said the COVID-19 Vaccine Supply Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV) head Khairy Jamaluddin, in a statement.
In a tweet later, Khairy also said that the Cabinet, in principle, has agreed to provide free vaccines to undocumented foreigners living in Malaysia as well.
“We will be discussing further on how this can be implemented. We will be reaching out to state governments, foreign embassies and NGOs to assist,” he added.
Khairy, who is also the Coordinating Minister for COVID-19 Immunisation, said the Cabinet made the decision after considering several matters such as the need to create herd immunity as soon as possible.
“We can only create a COVID-19 free environment after vaccinating as many people in Malaysia as possible. Plus, this is a pandemic situation and humanitarian matters must be considered,” he stressed.
Khairy added that the decision was also made considering the fact that a vast number of clusters involve areas where migrants work; such as plantations, construction sites and manufacturing sectors.
“If we don’t vaccinate migrant workers, the Government will have to bear the high cost of treatment and quarantining them after getting into contact with COVID-19.
“And migrant workers also form a part of our community and contribute vastly to our economy. Several other countries also provide free vaccination to Malaysians living there,” the Rembau MP added.
Right mindset during crisis
However, Khairy stressed that locals will be given priority to be inoculated first and details on the vaccination for foreigners will be made later.
“Rest assured that we will have more than enough vaccines to inoculate every eligible Malaysians,” he remarked.
On related matter, Parti Sosialis Malaysia chairperson Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj lauded the Government’s decision for having the right mindset in dealing with the pandemic.
He added that Malaysians need the support of migrant workers, documented and undocumented, if the nation wants to achieve herd immunity as quickly as possible.
“Initially, there was little incentive for migrant workers to come forward to get tested and vaccinated. On average, only one tenth out of 10,000 cases involve their community as they are mostly of the young age group.
“Plus, they stand higher chance of getting into trouble with the authorities if they come forward for screening,” Jeyakumar told FocusM.
The PSM leader stressed that the Government cannot exclude the migrant workers’ community from the vaccination programme as they work and mingle with locals, who will carry the virus back home.
“And those working with migrant workers will come home, only to expose their elderly family members to COVID-19,” Jeyakumar said.
To achieve optimum results, the retired pulmonologist urged the Government to offer a year-long amnesty to undocumented migrant workers to incentivise the latter to support the national vaccination programme.
“Let them get screened and vaccinated as well so that we can achieve herd immunity sooner,” the former Sungai Siput MP remarked. – Feb 11, 2021.
