Bukit Gasing rep disputes Khairy's vaccination numbers claims

 

Bukit Gasing state assemblyperson Rajiv Rishyakaran has disputed the latest estimation National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin provided for vaccinated adults in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.

“National Immunisation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s claim that 96.7 percent of adults in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor have received their first vaccine dose can’t be right, and thus his claim that close to 100 percent have been vaccinated must be re-examined,” Rajiv (above) said in a statement today.

The governmental Covid-19 vaccine website, which was last updated on Aug 2, claims that 5,888,921 individuals in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor have received their first dose.

“If compared to the 6.1 million adult population in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, a figure provided by Khairy based on the Department of Statistics, then yes, we would have reached 96.7 per cent.

“However, we surely have far more than 6.1 million people in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, as based on the same website, we have 7,102,235 people registered for the vaccine,” he said.

Rajiv noted that this figure leaves out one million people and fails to include many who have yet to register, for reasons such as the digital gap, having an anti-vaccine stance or those who fear to register due to their migration status.

Based on data from the Statistics Department, the adult population in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor is estimated to be at 6.1 million.

Foreign workers and migrants line up to get their vaccination at the KL Convention Centre 

The Bukit Gasing assemblyperson’s statement comes after Khairy claimed two days ago that Operation Surge Capacity, held from July 26 to Aug 1, had increased the number of first-dose vaccine recipients aged 18 and above in the Klang Valley.

Operation Surge Capacity aimed to ensure that every adult in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur would receive at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by Aug 1.

“The least that Khairy can do is to base our statistics on the percentage of adults vaccinated based on the individuals registered, and not using an outdated estimate of adults.

“This is not just about numbers. It is crucial that we not rest on our laurels and continue to get the vaccine out to those registered and unregistered so we can build this immunity wall and minimise the impact of Covid on our already strained healthcare services.

“Khairy himself set a target of 80 percent of the population (not 80 percent of adults) to be vaccinated in order to build this immunity wall (instead of using the term herd immunity)," Rajiv said.

He stressed that as a sizeable proportion of the population is not eligible to be vaccinated due to their age, the importance of getting all adults vaccinated cannot be underestimated. - Mkini