The government has decided that foreign citizens living in Malaysia will be getting the Covid-19 vaccine for free.
Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin posted a statement by the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV) which states that this decision is in line with the theme of the National Covid-19 Immunization Program, namely ‘Protect Yourself, Protect All’.
The statement said that through the ‘no one is safe, until everyone is safe’ approach, giving free vaccines to this group comes after taking into account the following factors:
- A safe and free COVID-19 environment can only be achieved when as many Malaysians as possible are vaccinated
- During the pandemic period, vaccination is a humane move
- A high number of patients through existing clusters (construction, farming & manufacturing) involve foreign workers
- The high cost of treatment and quarantine of Covid-19 patients as a result of infection to foreign worker clusters
- Foreign workers have become part of the community and also contribute to the national economy
- Some foreign countries also provide vaccines to Malaysian citizens who are in the country.
The statement added that this decision was aimed at helping the success of the National Covid-19 Immunization Program, however, priority would still be given to Malaysians first.
Khairy Jamaluddin added in a separate tweet that undocumented foreigners would also be vaccinated for free.
“In principle, Cabinet has also agreed to provide the vaccines free for undocumented foreigners. Will be discussing further on how this can be implemented. We will be reaching out to state governments, foreign embassies, NGOs to assist,” he said.
Meanwhile, the statement said that the vaccine information and schedule for foreign citizens will be announced later.
“The decision to give it for free is also made as the access to the supply of Covid-19 vaccine obtained by Malaysia is sufficient and exceeds the number of Malaysians who are eligible to receive it,” it said.
“It is also in line with the government’s stance to vaccinate as many populations as possible in Malaysia to enable group immunity to be formed in an effort to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.”
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