Report: No need to go ‘mega’ when good common sense will do, says Rafidah

KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — The government should bring vaccines to the people, instead of having them crowd mega Covid-19 vaccination centres (PPVs), said former minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz.

In a report by Free Malaysia Today (FMT), Rafidah said that vaccination centres should be “right sized” and managed at the district level.

She also recommended the use of multi-purpose halls, adding that these centres would only cater to residents of a particular district, which in turn makes record keeping and traceability easier.

She added that this would prevent vaccination centre clusters caused by the massive crowds seen at some PPVs lately, where people queued for hours before their appointments.

“We don’t need a mega RM70 million IT system set-up when there is a common sense approach that could be taken. Appointments would be more meaningful and the people do not have to cross borders to go to a mega centre.

“The data collected at these district centres can then be collated by the district health offices, then escalated to the state health departments for analysis and transmission to the health ministry,” she told FMT.

She then questioned why Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah was not part of the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) as public health infrastructure is required for the rollout of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP).

She also called for the government to be more realistic and effective, adding that it could not waste any more time or money doing things on a “mega-scale”.

“There is no time for politicking and mega approaches. The vaccines must go to the rakyat, not vice versa. We need to have a sensible roll-out at the grassroots level,” she said.

Yesterday, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced that several more PPVs are planned for Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, adding that he would be visiting states like Penang and Johor to seek sites for similar set-ups there.

He said that three such PPVs would be opened in Selangor at the Mines International Exhibition and Convention Centre, Mara Technological Institute University (UiTM) Puncak Alam and Setia City Convention Centre.

In Kuala Lumpur, meanwhile, two centres would be opened at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) and Bukit Jalil Stadium.