4 MPs not vaccinated, 35 had one shot, says Speaker

 

Parliament has set ‘house rules’, among which is that everyone, including contractors, ministry staff and ministerial escort officers, is vaccinated.

KUALA LUMPUR: The majority of MPs have received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, said Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun.

He said another 35 MPs had received at least one dose of the vaccine, while four had not been vaccinated for certain reasons, but they are still allowed to attend the Dewan Rakyat sittings.

“All MPs are allowed to come to Parliament even if they are not vaccinated.

“However, we advise those who are not vaccinated to be careful, because we cannot stop them from performing their duties under the Federal Constitution,” he said during a virtual press conference on preparations for the special Parliament sitting which begins Monday.

Azhar said he had previously held discussions with national Covid-19 immunisation programme (PICK) coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who agreed that all parliamentary staff should be vaccinated, and so far, 90% of them had received both shots.

He said Parliament had set certain “house rules”, among which was to ensure that every individual who came to Parliament, including contractors, ministry staff and ministerial escort officers had been vaccinated.

“If they are not vaccinated, we will not allow them to enter,” he said.

As a security measure, Azhar said everyone, including MPs, officers on duty, parliamentary staff, media personnel, contractors’ workers, drivers and body guards would have to undergo a swab test.

A total of 1,008 people underwent screening two days ago, while all MPs were screened today.

The special sitting of the Dewan Rakyat will be held for five days from Monday, while the Dewan Negara will convene for three days beginning Aug 3.

Meanwhile, Azhar said in a statement that only 72 media personnel would be allowed to be present at the Parliament building, adding that this was part of measures to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission.

In addition, he said Parliament had also prepared hybrid press conference platform facilities and exclusive interactive interview sessions with MPs through the Zoom application. - FMT