#TamatDarurat, Current Affairs, National

Why hasn’t PN revealed tender details behind Covid-19 vaccine website?

On

Media statement by ADUN for Kampung Tunku, Lim Yi Wei on 27 May 2021:

 

Reveal full details of vaccine website tender immediately

 

After the recent disastrous Astra Zeneca (AZ) vaccine registration programme, MOSTI Minister YB Khairy Jamaluddin received a lot of heat for the RM70 million allocated for data integration and scheduling system under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NCIP).

 
Malay Mail article screenshot on Khairy Jamaluddin’s statement.
 

On 27 May, he announced that the RM70 million was just the “ceiling” and not used solely for the website but included management and monitoring of the NCIP’s progress, data integration among health systems, genomic surveillance, immunisation surveillance, digital passport for MySejahtera and vaccine delivery logistics among others.



While this sounds impressive, I would like to share my experience as an elected representative who has been promoting and registering the public for vaccination. 

From the get-go, the vaksincovid.gov.my website was problematic. My office started registering senior citizens and their family members during our Jom Shopping Skim Mesra Usia Emas (SMUE) voucher distribution programme in early March. However, there was no function on the website to check on their status. We had cases of senior citizens accidentally deleting the SMS confirming their registration, and no way to check back and reassure them that they were in queue.

 
ADUN for Kampung Tunku, Lim Yi Wei.
 

To remedy this, we created our own vaccination card for those who registered at our office and outreach programmes, so that they would, in the very least, be assured that they had registered. It was only a month later (April) that the checking function was put up. 

The AZ registration problems have been well-documented:

 
  • Website crashes ALL THREE TIMES!
  • Inability to select states.
  • The absence of confirmation messages leaving users in the dark as to whether their attempts were successful.
 

Netizens have discovered that apparently the website is being run on the free version of Cloudflare, which made their API unable to handle the high surge of traffic from the public who wanted to register. This is unacceptable – clearly, they should have anticipated and prepared foor the surge, like Lazada and Shopee would in a 5.5 Sale. Cloudflare has since reached out with their solution Project Fair Shot. 



Add to that, sudden vaccine appointment changes. What is more worrying: there have been cases of the public not registering for AZ but getting slots anyway. A constituent of mine decided early on to stick with PICK and specifically not register for AZ, but late last night received a notification that she had received an AZ slot in July. 

We have also frequently received reports from the public that calls to the hotline and emails to the helpdesk have repeatedly been unanswered. 

All of the above demands that the Minister provide full disclosure into the tender details for the RM70 million allocation.

 

1. Who is the vendor, project manager and lead tech? Who is the developer? What are all these parties’ credentials and competencies?

 

2. How much of the RM70 million allocation has been spent? 

 

3. What is contained within the tender scope: terms of reference and deployment requirements?

 

4. Was there testing done prior to the AZ opt-in openings to ensure the website could handle traffic surges?

 

5. Is the JKJAV going to take up Cloudflare’s offer to use Project Fair Shot and avoid any more messes going forward? 

 

6. Why are the hotline and email helpdesks not responding to the public? How many personnel have been deployed to this task?

 
 

Vaccines are a lifesaving right. Regardless of the RM70 million being a ceiling, the people deserve answers. Reveal the website tender details now.   

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*