PETALING JAYA: The government is considering issuing a certificate of exemption to individuals who cannot receive the Covid-19 vaccine due to them having serious allergies or are immunocompromised.
Science, technology and innovation minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the issuance of the certificate was to replace the digital vaccine certificate that would be given to all recipients once they have completed the second dose of the vaccine.
“On the principle of fairness, we are thinking about how we can give a certificate of exemption to those who cannot take the vaccine and not because they decide not to be vaccinated. I think we have to be fair,” he said.
The coordinating minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme said this at a press conference after visiting the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre vaccination centre here today.
He also said the government was still refining the plan to give digital vaccine certificates via the MySejahtera application.
He said the system would provide information to the World Health Organization (WHO) and other countries so that the certificate would be recognised and used as proof of vaccination.
Meanwhile, he explained that the government was also drafting a strategy on vaccinating the homeless, refugees and undocumented migrants.
He said he is meeting with United Nations agencies this week to discuss the best method (of vaccination) for these groups.
“I will also have a meeting with Kuala Lumpur City Hall about the homeless,” he added.
Khairy also said that health minister Adham Baba would be announcing the protection scheme for compensation by anyone who suffered serious side effects from the Covid-19 vaccine jabs at a joint press conference next Monday.
Commenting on China’s Sinovac vaccine, he said the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency, under the health ministry, was carrying out stability testing on the vaccine and that it could take a month to be completed.
“We want to see if there are any flaws in the vaccine when they are bottled here. If approval is given, we can roll out the vaccine by next month,” he said.
Malaysia received the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine on Feb 27.
On claims about fake vaccines being sold online, Khairy urged all parties to report the matter to the health ministry for further action.
A fake advertisement about the online sale of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine went viral on social media recently. - FMT
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