Lawyer Syahredzan Johan has disputed Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s explanation that a mistake with address selection caused by the Google Maps API was the reason behind cases of people being given vaccine appointments in other states.
Earlier today, Khairy had explained that when people key in their neighbourhood, the maps list out all neighbourhoods with the same name and users may choose the wrong one.
He cited an example of someone staying in Taman Bahagia, Kuala Lumpur, who may have accidentally chosen Taman Bahagia, Sandakan.
Syahredzan (above) had previously highlighted this issue as his aunt, who has lived in Johor her entire life, was given a vaccine appointment in Subang Jaya, Selangor, instead.
In an immediate response to Khairy, the lawyer, who is also DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang’s political secretary, said his aunt had made sure her postcode was in Johor.
“For the record, that is not what happened to my aunt. She even ensured her postcode was in Johor,” Syahredzan said in a posting on Twitter today.
He also included a screenshot of the vaccine page on MySejahtera from the day his aunt registered for the vaccine, which displayed her current address details as being in Johor.
Meanwhile, a woman who lives with her 83-year-old mother in Ipoh, Perak, told Malaysiakini her mother was given a vaccine appointment at the wrong state twice.
Rashimah Muslim said she and her sister look after their bed-bound mother with the onset of dementia full-time without any outside help.
They had registered her for the vaccine back in February using their address in Ipoh, she said, but in April, MySejahtera notified them that their mother had been given an appointment for May 3 at the vaccine dispensation centre (PPV) at Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi in Sepang, Selangor.
They then contacted the helpline, which could only forward their problem to the Perak vaccine task force.
“We waited again and finally decided to go ourselves to the PPV Stadium Indera Mulia (in Ipoh, Perak). No one could help us there, or give us the correct answer to solve the mistake.
“We went home and waited again. Finally, we decided to re-register her again despite them scolding us not to do it,” Rashimah said.
Two days ago, the sisters received another notification and this time, their mother was given a vaccine appointment in Cyberjaya on June 3.
“We sent a complaint to Khairy but, of course, we are not expecting him to respond since he is busy going around the country setting up new centres,” Rashimah said.
At the time, she had said they were at their wits’ end and did not know where else to turn to in order to get their mother vaccinated.
Rashimah later told Malaysiakini that they had gone back to the PPV Stadium Indera Mulia, where they found someone who rectified the issue and apologised profusely to them.
The sisters have since received a notification for their mother’s new vaccine appointment at Stadium Indera Mulia today.
Even though their mother’s vaccine appointment has been resolved, Rashimah said the process was too difficult and cumbersome.
“The helpline is of no help… because they are not connected to MySejahtera. They can’t see the address we put in and they can’t correct the problem right away; they can only forward our details to the Perak vaccine centre,” she said, adding that they waited a long time to reach an operator.
She also complained that it is too inconvenient for the disabled and elderly to get vaccinated.
“Why make them come to vaccine centres? Why not the other way around?” she said. - Mkini
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