Press statement by MP for Kota Melaka, Khoo Poay Tiong on 4 March 2021:

More detailed data on vaccination progress required in order to strengthen the transparency and integrity of our national vaccination programme

Recently there have been allegations on vaccine queue jumping in Melaka. It was reported and alleged that over 100 political aides and officers of “VVIPs” are on a list of the vaccine recipients, which supposedly led to the postponement of vaccination for frontline hospital staff.

I think this is a serious issue as it affects the integrity of our national vaccination programme. Hospital Melaka has since denied the allegation and clarified that 70% of its frontline staff will be vaccinated in the first phase.

I welcome the clarification by Hospital Melaka, but we cannot discard the possibility that hidden hands may indeed be involved in queue jumping.

The Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Khairy Jamaluddin, has confirmed incidences on queue jumping, where people who were not supposed to receive the vaccine yet had successfully made it into the list.

Last week, I have personally received several complaints on this issue in Melaka and we are in the midst of getting further information. I urge anyone in Melaka who has concrete information on such incidences to contact my office so that we can investigate further.

In the meantime, the government should provide more data and information on the vaccination progress. Currently, the Ministry of Health publishes data on the total number of vaccinated persons according to state.

According to the guideline published by the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine, there are two categories of high risk groups for the first phase of vaccination.

The first category includes frontliners who are involved directly in providing medical treatment to patients.

The second category includes others from the healthcare, defence, security and essential services sectors.

The Ministry should therefore publish a breakdown of those vaccinated according to these categories.

This is to ensure greater transparency and accountability on the vaccination programme, and to reduce the risk of queue jumping. I also acknowledge the criticism made by some on the need to vaccinate Members of Parliament at the first phase.

I ought to clarify that MPs have not lobbied for such arrangements. The decision was made by the government to include MPs into the first phase of vaccination.

I understand that the rationale is to provide public confidence on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. Indeed, based on my conversation with local residents, many are still uncertain about the vaccine.The low public trust towards the vaccine, and the government in general, is a major problem in achieving our national vaccination goals.

It is on this basis that MPs were asked to take the vaccine, so as to be able to assist in establishing greater awareness and confidence on the Covid-19 vaccine.

Khoo Poay Tiong
MP Kota Melaka