Education ministry believed to have the most unvaccinated civil servants

Education ministry staff are believed to constitute the biggest group of civil servants who have yet to be vaccinated against Covid-19, according to Public Service Department (PSD) director-general Mohd Khairul Adib Abd Rahman.

Without disclosing details, he said the PSD is updating the data of civil servants who have not been vaccinated and that this process is expected to be completed in two weeks’ time.

Currently, the PSD is matching the data of unvaccinated civil servants using the Human Resource Management Information System and MySejahtera application of the health ministry, he said.

“As of today, the data is being updated and the PSD will relook the reasons given by these civil servants for not wanting to be vaccinated.

“The reasons given will then be reviewed by each department head… so heads of department need to go down to the field to understand the reasons given for not wanting to be vaccinated,” he said when met after attending the #KeluargaMalaysiaSiagaBencana 2021 National Preparedness Month programme in Putrajaya yesterday.

The PSD had issued a circular mandating civil servants including teachers to get vaccinated before Nov 1 failing which they would face disciplinary action including possible dismissal.

On Nov 1, Education Minister Radzi Jidin said school authorities were authorised to check if teachers possessed vaccination certificates to ensure that they complied with the circular.

Khairul said no disciplinary action had been taken yet against civil servants for refusing Covid-19 vaccination.

“We understand that there are some who are concerned about getting vaccinated, and some of them do not want to be vaccinated because they are cancer patients, or are just after childbirth or have the Covid-19 infection. These groups will be given an exemption,” he said.

He said department heads need to make good decisions regarding this issue to ensure there is no service delivery disruption to the community.

“Sometimes, department heads are forced to be firm to ensure that services are not affected,” he added.