Jab first, register later, says Mahathir

Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has suggested that people be given vaccine shots before registering, saying the current procedure of dispensing Covid-19 shots to Malaysians should be improved to control the spread of the pandemic.

“The present method which requires the people to register using their mobile phones has caused many to wait up to three months to get vaccinated. Vaccination centres may also be far from the people. Why not let the government go to the people?

“Registration is not necessary. Anybody can be vaccinated by bringing their identity cards for the purpose of recording their data in the system. What is the use of MySejahtera? These are all bureaucracies,” he said on the “Wawancara Eksklusif Bersama Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad” programme aired live on Sinar Harian’s Facebook yesterday.

Adding that the US was able to vaccinate three million people a day via the drive-thru system, he said vaccine jabs at villages could be handled by teams comprising a doctor, two nurses and an assistant.

He also said Malaysia was too worried and took time to test each type of vaccine when the vaccines were already in use in various countries.

“The Sputnik V vaccine has not been approved in Malaysia when it is already used in Germany but Malaysia is just starting to conduct tests.

“We cannot just wait for Pfizer or AstraZeneca only. China’s vaccine is also good. The country has vaccinated more than 300 million people,” he said.

Asked about the emergency, Mahathir said he was of the view that Parliament could convene even though the emergency period will continue until Aug 1.

He reiterated that when the National Operations Council or Mageran was set up in 1969, Parliament had met to allow all parties including the opposition to give their views on issues faced by the country.