.JPG "Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin during a visit to vaccination centre at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre in Kuala Lumpur May 30, 2021. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Firdaus Latif")
KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 — Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin today attributed the chaos and snaking long queues at the World Trade Centre (WTC) Covid-19 vaccination centre (PPV) here yesterday to a system error.
He said the “mistake” in the timing of the appointment slot bookings triggered a sudden change that “shortened” the operation hours.
“Yesterday, the appointment slot bookings at WTC was shortened by several hours and this caused congestion to happen for about one to two hours, which we managed to sort out and today, as of now, the report from WTC is that it’s normal. Smooth and with no issues.
“So usually, our appointments are given until 9pm, but yesterday the appointments were not until 9pm. So the operation hours in the system was shortened,” he said in a press conference at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (Mitec) here.
“It was a mistake, that was why the congestion happened, but when we found that many came, that problem was settled,” he explained.
Photos and videos of massive crowds of people waiting outside the WTC were widely circulated on social media. Among them was prominent Malaysian chef, Datuk Redzuawan Ismail, better known as Chef Wan, also shared a video of the situation on his Instagram account.
“What a mess our vaccination programme has been for some of these places. So pitiful to see the public having to endure this.
“There must be some proper arrangement to facilitate this process otherwise it certainly looks chaotic and dangerous to the public,” he wrote.
