Boo: Why vaccinate elected reps ahead of more at-risk healthcare workers?
Johor DAP committee member Dr Boo Cheng Hau (above) has questioned the logic of vaccinating elected representatives ahead of more at-risk healthcare workers.
While both groups qualify for early vaccination under Phase 1, Boo pointed out that unlike elected representatives, some healthcare workers deal directly with Covid-19 patients, including administering tests on them.
He said this includes private healthcare workers who have to administer tests on Covid-19 patients.
Boo, who is himself a private healthcare general practitioner and was previously infected with Covid-19, said healthcare workers face a higher risk than elected representatives.
"Many ministers and state exco members have already got their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine before both the public and private healthcare workers have got theirs.
While both groups qualify for early vaccination under Phase 1, Boo pointed out that unlike elected representatives, some healthcare workers deal directly with Covid-19 patients, including administering tests on them.
He said this includes private healthcare workers who have to administer tests on Covid-19 patients.
Boo, who is himself a private healthcare general practitioner and was previously infected with Covid-19, said healthcare workers face a higher risk than elected representatives.
"Many ministers and state exco members have already got their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine before both the public and private healthcare workers have got theirs.
"Quite astonishingly, these political leaders are actually listed as Category 2 for vaccination prioritisation, together with private general medical practitioners, dentists and healthcare workers," Boo said in a statement.
Several senior government leaders have received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine but other leaders, such as Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin and Perlis Menteri Besar Azlan Man, have given up their slot to healthcare workers.
Boo was responding to the guideline issued by the Special Committee for Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV), which defines who qualifies for early vaccination under Phase 1.
He said if the Covid-19 vaccine is to be administered to elected representatives at this juncture, they should be in the high-risk group with co-morbidity and are senior citizens aged above 60.
"It is not only an inequality in prioritising vaccination among both the public and private health care workers but it shows how sick and selfish our leaders are," Boo said.
The JKJAV guideline was drafted in response to mounting complaints of attempts to jump the vaccine queue.
The guideline groups qualified personnel for early vaccination under Phase 1 into two categories.
The first category involves healthcare workers and technicians who are directly involved in dealing with and treating patients.
They include medical officers, pharmacists, science officers, nurses, X-ray technicians and ambulance drivers.
The second category includes the wider healthcare community, such as general practitioners, private dentists, traditional medicine practitioners and private lab workers.
Also included in the second category are enforcement officers, teachers with multiple morbidities, ministers and elected representatives.
The JKJAV guideline was drafted in response to mounting complaints of attempts to jump the vaccine queue.
The guideline groups qualified personnel for early vaccination under Phase 1 into two categories.
The first category involves healthcare workers and technicians who are directly involved in dealing with and treating patients.
They include medical officers, pharmacists, science officers, nurses, X-ray technicians and ambulance drivers.
The second category includes the wider healthcare community, such as general practitioners, private dentists, traditional medicine practitioners and private lab workers.
Also included in the second category are enforcement officers, teachers with multiple morbidities, ministers and elected representatives.
Given the widespread resistance against Covid-19 vaccines in Malaysia, it is important the leadership demonstrates they support vaccination. Lead by example.
ReplyDeleteEasily 20- 40 % of the population will unlikely take the Covid-19 vaccination.
Malays and Chinese resistance, for different reasons.
can set example AFTER frontliners inoculated
DeleteFront liners also reflect the general population.
DeleteThey also say , want to see the Orang Besar / Taikors vaccinated, practice what they preach.
There is a conspiracy theory going around the Moo took a salt solution jab 😄😄😄.
We got this all wrong. After frontliners the next group to be vaccinated should be the working people, those that can immediately jumpstart the economy and pay taxes. Life and Livelihood right?
ReplyDeleteThe older folk who don’t work and don’t contribute anything to the economy should just stay home and follow Wee KHAT Siong’s advice - eat Mee Maggi...ha ha ha...
Utter selfishness is not unexpected from these gangs....actions speak louder than their election campaign promises which most fools here fall for. Look at the the developed West....braying human rights, fairness, transparency and such utter rots but their actions belie. See how these angmos fought at the airport tarmac to snatch away the face masks belonging to others, how they overbooked the vaccines by as much as 7 times the amount needed, how 130 poorer countries don't even have a single dose of the vaccine yet. Typical of these rapacious plundering whiteface shitters...serve them right when those long-suffering countries who are deprived of the vaccines develop variants of the virus to create another deadly worldwide 4th or 5th wave of pandemic down the road, rendering all previous vaccination quite useless.
ReplyDelete