A big step in the right direction with this latest development now involves a large part of the community that have been needlessly left out: foreigners and undocumented migrants.

Kicking the national immunisation campaign into into higher gear, walk-in vaccinations will be now permitted at designated vaccination centres (PPV) in the Klang Valley for Malaysians aged 40 and above from now through Wednesday, August 4.

Then, from August 5 to 22, age requirements will expand to all Malaysians aged 18 and above residing in the Klang Valley. Authorities have also designated specific dates for foreigners to get receive their walk-in appointments that will be available to them from August 9 to 11 (40 and older), and August 12 to 22 (18 and older).

The government has also announced that walk-in vaccinations only apply to Klang Valley residents, and are not for individuals who already have appointments.

Universiti Putra Malaysia medical epidemiologist Assoc Prof Dr Malina Osman informed the public that people who have already secured vaccination appointments on their MySejahtera app will not be allowed to cancel in order to opt for a walk-in vaccination instead.

Dr Malina also suggested for anyone planning on heading out to PPV centres to check for crowds and excess congestion.

“I also hope that each PPV will post their status live on all social media platforms to update on their capacity there from time to time,” she said to reporters.

She added that the walk-in initiative was started to aid individuals who have been unable to secure appointments through technical difficulties or MySejahtera app glitches, or for anyone who has remained undecided.

ANY PROGRESS IS PROGRESS

A big step forward in in this vaccination process now thankfully involves a large part of the community that has been needlessly left out: foreigners and undocumented migrants. Universiti Malaysia Sarawak’s (Unimas) head of politics and government studies programme Dr Linda A. Lumayag said, “There is no way we can exclude non-citizens in our struggle to mitigate infections.”

Dr Linda, a senior lecturer and researcher on migration issues, has urged the government to consider introducing mobile vaccinations for undocumented migrants, and to implement vaccination cards instead. She also advised that pro-migrant NGOs should be allowed involvement in the process, and encouraged undocumented workers who have already received vaccinations to convince their peers to do the same with this new initiative.

If there is fear surrounding this new development, it’s clearly not unwarranted given the many recent reports of migrant workers being hauled up for detainment due to minor offences. However, Immigration director-general Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud was reported last weekend to provide assurance once again that the department in question would not interfere in the vaccination programme for migrants at PPV centres.

National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that he will continue to update the country on the vaccine supplies as the walk-in exercise will eventually be expanded to the other states, with priority given to senior citizens.

Sarawak residents who have yet to receive appointments for their first dose are advised to call their respective divisional disaster management committees up to August 5 to get an appointments for walk-in vaccinations.

And in Penang, the Setia SPICE Convention Centre has been allocated as a PPV for walk-ins catering to senior citizens who have not received their jabs yet.

Find the full list of walk-in PPVs in the Klang Valley here.