Monitor, Investigate Allegation Of Improper Vaccine Administration

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Media Statement by YB Kelvin Yii:

The Ministry of Health must look at thoroughly investigating allegation of improper Covid-19 vaccine administrations or deviations in view of the viral video of members of the public getting alleged lower dose of vaccines since the implementation of the AstraZeneca vaccine opt-in programme on top of a proper monitoring mechanism for the whole National Covid-19 Vaccination Programme (NCIP) in further instil public confidence and address hesitancy in the programme itself.

Since the circulation of such videos, the public has been questioning the effectiveness of the whole inoculation process and even raising doubts whether they themselves have gotten the right dosage and have been properly administered with the vaccine. Such doubts and possible mismanagement have to be properly handled and addressed and not censoring them in any way in the case of such an event.

We have received reports that members of public are stopped from recording or even taking photos during the inoculation. This does not instil confidence in the program itself and should not happen but instead their concerns be properly addressed.

While it could be a human-error, but a proper monitoring and quality control system should be in placed especially in view of the expected increasing rate of vaccination once our vaccine supply increases.

With more vaccinations happening, the tendency of possible human-error happening may increase. Thus, on top of a proper monitoring system, the Ministry of Health(MOH) must also come up with a comprehensive “Covid-19 Vaccine Administration Errors and Deviations Guidelines” in case of a situation like this. This will give clear guidelines and even resources to prevent a Covid-19 vaccine administration error, ways of proper reporting in the event of a vaccine administration error, as well as actions to take after an error has occurred.

This includes ways to inform the recipient of the vaccine administration error, how to determine how the error occurred and implement strategies to prevent it from happening again. This should cover all types of vaccines and its possible difference in terms of response and administration.

Such guidelines have been produced and implemented by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the USA including a comprehensive study of the more common administration errors reported, along with some of their potential causes and ways to avoid it.

With these guidelines, it gives the front liners clearly guidelines to respond in such a situation and also the recipients a peace of mind and more confidence in the programme itself.

That is why I urge MOH to come up clearly with a proper monitoring mechanism as well as a comprehensive guideline to properly address this issue.

Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen
MP Bandar Kuching