Only 37pct registered for Covid-19 vaccine in Johor

 

Only 36.6 percent of Johor adults have registered for Covid-19 vaccine as of April 6, according to government data yesterday.

In light of this, Kluang MP Wong Shu Qi has urged the state government to mobilise efforts to get the people registered.

"If we want to reopen the border between Malaysia and Singapore to allow thousands of families to reunite, the government must employ a 'whole-of-society' and 'all-of-government' approach to speed up the registration in Johor specifically.

"We should be clear by now that the earlier we achieve herd immunity through vaccination, the faster we may be able to recover from economic downturn," she said in a statement today.

Wong said one effort DAP has been taking in her constituency is to get former councillors and village chiefs to assist in registration for vaccination.

She said the state government should consider doing the same with the current local government councillors and village chiefs.

"It is time for all political appointees to work now after the fight over the positions," she said.

Wong said that her office's experience with registration drives at markets and rural communities found that many did not register for vaccines due to a lack of tech-savviness, especially among the elderly and those outside urban areas.

"This is proven by the statewide statistics that highly urbanised districts like Johor Bahru and Kulai have a higher registration rate, while other districts with smaller young working population and larger rural communities have lower registration rate," she said.

Wong said this digital gap between urban and rural, and different age groups, could become a major hurdle for Johor to achieve herd immunity. - Mkini