StillSearching

Dear MM2Hers,
Can you please tell us here when you get a Covid vaccine in Malaysia?
The Health Minister remarked regarding covid vaccination for non-citizens:
“It will involve all groups of non-citizens who are residing in Malaysia, however, priority will be given to Malaysian citizens."
They expect to vaccinate 90% by Feb.2022.
First vaccine which is distributed is Phizer.
I am just wondering if indeed MM2Hers will get their vaccine at the end, after all the citizens are vaccinated, and the only vaccine will be left is Sputnik, which is the least desirable.

Gunnar45

You can find some information in the Mysejahtera app and register for vaccination there.
Pending on your profile, you will then be called for vaccination in due time.
There are also some talks of letting the private hospitals perform vaccinations. This could open for other alternatives.

I do not think that it is advisable to give personal opinions about which vaccine one considers to be more or less desirable on the forum as all the vaccines made available here will have been approved by the relevant Malaysia authorities.

SushiFan

The government receives shipments of various vaccines throughout the year. So it won't be that they first use vaccine A until it has run out and then change over to vaccine B. Multiple vaccines will be available in parallel. Which vaccine is given to which person depends on several variables, such as age, medical condition, allergies, and vaccine availability.
The vaccines used are approved by the Malaysian medical authorities; they also look at the opinion of, and approval by, international authorities such as the US CDC.

StillSearching

Yes, it depends on one's health, but still the foreigners are placed at the end of the queue, based on the statement of the Health Minister.
Therefore, it looks like young and healthy MY citizens will be ahead of elderly and with health issues foreigners. This is callous.

There is no option yet to pay for a vaccine at a private health care provider and there are strong voices opposing paying for a vaccine in order to get it sooner.

I only mentioned Sputnik, because it is not approved yet in EU, because all information regarding it was suppressed by Russia and trial data has NOT been published in a peer-reviewed medical journals. Sputnik can be perfectly fine, but it needs transparency and time for trials. If MY approved it already, it looks like too fast. The same goes for a Chinese vaccine. It can be perfectly fine, but there is no transparency.

Also, can data of how many vaccinations are performed daily in MY be found anywhere?

WiredTight

I haven't seen the Min-Health "Foreigner Last" statement... but it wouldn't surprise me. I thought I saw something over the weekend that said 320,000 doses already administered (one or two shot vaccine ???), 3,000,000 million signed up with gov't My Sejahtera. Doing the math, I don't think they are going to meet their 80% target for 2022.
Pay to Play... Increase vaccination rates, increase private hospital and government tax revenue, speed up opening up the boarders, or call it Medical Tourism. If the gov''t can package it as a Win-Win plan that is the political question. Interesting that Singapore is already talking about vaccinating 100,000 cross border transit people.
As it stands, I will most likely make a holiday trip back to the Motherland in a couple of months. Visit friends/family/vaccine all in one trip. Has anyone experienced or heard of any problems re-entering via the immigration department "approval" request ???. Leaving, and then not being able to get back in, or 7 day gov't quarantine might make me change my mind about a outside trip in the future (Vaccine passport ???).

StillSearching

"Singapore is already talking about vaccinating 100,000 cross border transit people."
- It would be tempting to make a trip through or to Singapore just for that. The only problem is that you may actually get contaminated with covid on the way there and the vaccine will not protect you.

Gunnar45

''I am wondering how would a vaccine work if at the same time you get a real virus''
That is a very good question

StillSearching

It takes 2-3 weeks after a shot for your body to develop enough antibodies. So, if you get sick at the same time with a shot, a vaccine will not protect you.

SushiFan

I only have some "anecdotal evidence" which seems to indicate that your nationality has an impact on whether you will receive approval to come back to Malaysia. Among Japanese it has not been heard of that a request to return to Malaysia was denied. Whereas among US citizens there are multiple examples of people whose requests were denied. And had to make multiple requests until finally their request got approved.

StillSearching

• 07 Sep 2020
  

PUTRAJAYA: The Immigration Department has come up with a list of countries whose citizens are barred from entering the country effective Monday (Sept 7).

The ban, due to the high number of Covid-19 cases, has been imposed on citizens of 23 countries - the United States, Brazil, India, Russia, Peru, Colombia, South Africa, Mexico, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Iran, Bangladesh and the United Kingdom.

Also in the list are Saudia Arabia, Pakistan, France, Turkey, Italy, Germany, Iraq, Philippines and Indonesia.

SushiFan

Today there was a press conference. Quote from there:
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/ca...t-on-march-18/
They keep on advocating that people should sign up for the inoculation on their MySejahtera app. However, I can understand why the population is reluctant: if it is your turn to receive it only in October~December, why should you bother to sign up in March? It could be that they have a second motive to push for registration: many Malaysians still don't use this app and thus don't use their mobile phone to register when they enter a shop or restaurant. The vaccine could be used as a carrot....

StillSearching

People can sign up for vaccination via phone or SMS, not only with MySejahtera app.

SushiFan

That was overruled in October 2020 for MM2H holders:
http://www.mm2h.gov.my/dms/uploads/6757-[UPDATED]%205%20OCTOBER%202020%20CURRENT%20GUIDELINES%20ON% 20THE%20RE-ENTRY%20OF%20MM2H%20PARTICIPANTS%20INTO%20MALAYSIA %20DURING%20RECOVERY%20MOVEMENT%20CONTROL%20ORDER% 20(RMCO).pdf

WiredTight

It will be interesting to see where the vaccination numbers are at in a couple of weeks once the Frontline-ers are taken care of. I'd like to think it would be relatively easy to vaccinate the 1st groups as they would be receptive to vaccines, and are all located at the same work places, which should allow large numbers in one shot.

Once they start vaccinating the next groups of people, where will this be happening at. I'm trying to think of a place here in Penang large enough to handle hundreds -thousands of people a day. Some place to set up a "production line" to process the most people, while also tossing in public transportation, private parking, and other requirements. Perhaps taking over schools, malls, or set up something at the airport. I just don't see it happening at Penang Hospital, or other hospital that are located in congested traffic,or city areas (limited space and facilities). Maybe mobile hospital setups where they dose whole neighborhoods, apartments or condo complexes. Welcome to the New Normal in the 2nd / 3rd world.

StillSearching

I was wrong in my above statement. There is a good chance that a vaccine may still protect you or at least lessen covid symptoms if you get infected with a real corona virus at the same time.
Make an effort to get vaccinated asap. And before that, stay safe.