JUNE 2 — I was scheduled to have gotten my first dose of vaccine at 2pm, on May 31, 2021, as my husband’s vaccine dependent under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK).
Then in the evening of that fateful Vesak Day (May 26), after all hell broke loose during the second AstraZeneca vaccine opt-in exercise, we discovered that my appointment had been completely changed.
I was now to be vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine on July 27, almost two months later.
It came as such a shock. Just five days before I was to get my first shot, I was shunted to a later — much later — date.
course, attempts at calling the hotline that night were futile.
The next morning we were determined to get my appointment restored, so we kept dialling the hotline and finally got through. The lady I spoke to said that I wasn’t the first to lodge this complaint and that all she could do was to forward it to the ministry of health for their attention and action.
We resorted to posting a tweet about my situation on Twitter and after a day of retweets and replies, the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Malaysia (JKJAVMY) actually asked me to DM them in the evening.
I sent them a direct message immediately reiterating my request to have my appointment reinstated. Till today, I haven’t received a reply to my message.
We did learn online that I wasn’t alone, that so many people had had their appointments rescheduled to the same date.
The ministry of science, technology and innovation (Mosti) said that it was Selangkah’s fault because it had requested for block bookings, Selangkah said that it was Mosti’s fault for not reading instructions properly. We just wanted the finger-pointing to stop and this horrible situation fixed.
Finally, on the morning of my original appointment, Khairy Jamaluddin and Amirudin Shaari in their capacities as Minster of Science, Technology and Innovation and Chief Minister of Selangor respectively, issued a joint statement outlining the outcome of their meeting to resolve the issue.
In the statement was a commitment to reinstate the appointments of all those affected. I saved that statement and set out to the vaccine centre with some hope.
When I got there, I was informed that I wasn’t on the list and that my slot had already been given to someone else. I was directed to call another hotline number.
That was an upsetting and surreal experience. The call centre operators kept insisting that I had applied for AstraZeneca and when I said no, they replied, well it says here you did.
When I said that I had never, they would reply but you did or someone did in your name. It was surreal, as the call centre people were forcing a different reality on me.
It wasn’t their fault because their reality was what the system was telling them but for me it was like I was being accused of lying.
Finally, they said, if I didn’t want the AstraZeneca I would have to cancel the appointment and reapply for yet another appointment.
No one understands that it’s not the vaccine, but the fact that I had been cheated of my appointment. I had been deprived of two months of protection.
The next day I called that hotline number again and spoke to the same operator. I asked to have an earlier appointment.
I didn’t care what vaccine I got, I just wanted the minister’s promise to be fulfilled. She said regardless of what the minister had said in his statement, they hadn’t received any instruction about reinstating any of the lost appointments.
Basically he announced it to the public without even giving JKJAVMY a heads up.
Why was I surprised?
Since then, every day I tag the minister on Twitter or reply to a tweet of his to remind him about this, not just for me but for everyone else affected because we can see how he and his people are moving on to new items of interest like enabling pregnant or lactating mothers to declare their status, which is a good thing.
I just don’t want this egregious mistake to be forgotten.
So here we are. I tell myself that I am still fortunate to have an appointment as so many my age or even older have yet to get theirs.
But I am angry.
I am angry to have been treated like this.
I am angry that since the joint statement on Monday, nothing more has been said about rectifying this error that has affected so many of us.
I am angry that they haven’t apologised.
I am so angry that we had to wait for months for an appointment, only to be kicked down the chessboard like we are nothing but pawns.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
