SELANGOR Taskforce for COVID-19 chairman Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad’s recent reveal that Selangor still recorded the lowest vaccination rate as compared to other states in a 10-day period is a matter of great concern, and all hands must be on deck to find out why.
This is despite the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah expressing his disappointment and disapproval over the COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) earlier this month.
According to Dr Dzulkefly, only 17.5% of those in Selangor registered under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) had been inoculated as compared to the 34.94% of deaths recorded in the state over the last 10 days, as of June 20.
But why is this the case? Well, the most popular theory at the moment is that the problem lies in the registration process itself.
During the two opt-in exercises for the AstraZeneca vaccine, for example, many of those who live in Selangor have selected and got inoculated in vaccine centres in Kuala Lumpur, which must have skewed the numbers in favour of Kuala Lumpur.
It is also important to point out that there are still quite a number of people in Selangor who have registered via MySejahtera but have yet to receive their appointments as compared to their counterparts in KL. Could this be why the numbers are so low in Selangor?
Adding another layer of intrigue to the situation is COVID-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s tweet on June 15 Selangor will be able to achieve an 80% vaccination rate by September.
In the tweet, Khairy said the country’s most populous state will be ramping up its daily vaccination rate to 135,000 per day in July and 165,000 per day in August.
But with only 17.5% of those in Selangor registered under the NIP vaccinated so far, this begs the question: is 80% in three months too ambitious?
Whatever the problem, an investigation into this matter is definitely of great importance. Selangor has been topping the list in terms of proportions of COVID-19 deaths and has been making up for half the number of daily cases for as long as anyone can remember, and this cannot be allowed to continue any longer. – June 25, 2021
