BFM Interview 23 March 2021: Vaccine registration

 Podcast is here: https://www.bfm.my/podcast/evening-edition/inside-story/enhancing-mysejahtera-central-to-managing-the-pandemic#

ENHANCING MYSEJAHTERA CENTRAL TO MANAGING THE PANDEMIC

Dr. Mahesh Appannan, Deputy Director, Crisis Preparedness Response Centre at MOH | Dr. Helmi Zakaria, Project Director, Selangkah | Dr Lim Chee Han, Senior Researcher, Third World Network and Co-Founder of Agora Society

23-Mar-21 18:00

With MySejahtera playing a huge part in ensuring Malaysians register for the vaccination programme, we speak to experts in the field about its current limitations, how the gaps can be addressed and what technology can do in the battle against COVID-19.

***

1. Is MySejahtera the best way to approach vaccine registrations?

It would be one of the good options for the people to register for vaccine, as it is already commonly used by most people in daily life for registering and checking in places.

Since this is an active app, it would be good for people to check and keep track of the status in one place, rather than having other technical issues, for example, not receiving the email or sms… these notifications might get easily lost or overlooked.

 

2. How does this compare to the way that other countries have registered their citizens?

I did some quick searches on several countries coming to my mind: Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, UK and Canada. All these countries provide an appointment booking system on their own dedicated health authority website. Some do provide options for people to book by phone or the person could drop by his or her own clinic for registration.

In Malaysia, we also provide ways to register our own residents via government’s dedicated website vaksincovid.gov.my as well as registration by calling a hotline (you can find the number on the website)

 

3. What are some zero tech options that the government could expand on?

The website registration method would still require people to have at least a mobile phone or a computer. Phone dial in method could be challenging if the volume of calls is huge and waiting time is long.

If the government could identify localities where the registration in the community is low, then it is better for the district health officers go to the ground and start the vaccination registration campaign. It would be helpful especially to those who can access to registration help with ease and convenience. Furthermore, the health officers could communicate with the locals, trying to answer some people’s doubts and queries, as a way to convince them joining the vaccination drive later.

 

4. What experiences does Malaysia have in rolling out vaccines and what lessons can we take from there for the Covid-19 vaccine rollouts?

Malaysia has very successful national immunisation programme for the newborns and children, with immunisation coverage over 95% for many categories of vaccine-preventable diseases. Our statistics is higher than the world’s average.

The success of the ongoing national immunisation campaign is due to engagement and follow ups from the community or health clinic teams with the new parents. They start engaging with the parents once they received the notification that a newborn is officially registered. The government who make this programme a regular daily routine, and now it is the bedrock for our functioning public health system.

Though this time it is slightly different, the vaccine is going to the adults and the elderly themselves, not their children. Therefore, this might need further persuasion. One thing we can learn from our own successful national immunisation programme is that, the local health care team could provide the crucial link to the local community, the mere physical presence could provide the necessary interaction and communication, stands better chance to persuade people to join the covid-19 vaccination.

 

5. According to the Selangor Task Force for Covid-19, 90% of the elderly in the state have not registered for the vaccine. How user-friendly is the app from your point of view?

I do not think that the app is the main problem for the elderly not registering for the vaccine. If they would like to do that, they could have already asked their friends, children or even grandchildren to help. I guess the main issue must be the vaccine hesitancy they show. It is hardly surprising to learn that, from the MOH vaccination survey last December, a third of respondents either hesitate or outright reject vaccination.

If the app or the website could be the issue, then maybe some elderly who are not well versed with either English or BM, they might find it daunting to register. Perhaps the government should provide Tamil and Chinese option for them to register.

 

6. What other forms of outreach might be the right way for this group of people?

The government can communicate better through media such as TV ads, radio channels, mainstream media, trying to present the information as clearly and as laymen as possible. It would be best targeting at addressing some fears or doubts from this demographic group. Lastly, it would be good if the local health authority could make their own presence in the community, to start promoting the programme and persuading the local people to sign up for vaccination. If these strategies still do not work, then the government has to review their messaging and find out why it didn’t work.

The government should work together with the local NGOs and elected representatives for promoting vaccination programme due to the latter's extensive network on the ground. People in the communities would be more familiar with the local faces hence easier to be approached and persuaded.