KUALA LUMPUR: The government must live up to its commitment to vaccinate media practitioners against Covid-19 by outlining a timeline as uncertainties have created an air of anxiety and frustration.
The much-awaited inoculation of over 5,000 media practitioners nationwide under the Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme (NIP) has been delayed for several months despite the fraternity being recognised as frontliners and put on the priority list.
Promises that they would be immunised last month has dragged on to earlier this week were only met with despair, as the majority had heard nothing or received any notification on their MySejahtera app.
National Journalism Laureate Tan Sri Johan Jaaffar said the NIP coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin must act decisively on the matter.
"Reporters must be treated as frontliners. They are risking lives covering the pandemic. I demand a deadline to implement the vaccination promised for reporters.
"With millions of vaccines to be administered, they cannot allocate a few thousand for frontliners?
"There must be a national vaccination programme for reporters and it has to be spelt out," Johan told the New Straits Times.
Echoing Johan was Gerakan Media Merdeka (Geramm) spokesperson Radzi Razak who took the NIP, Special Committee on Covid Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee, Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry and the Communications and Multimedia Ministry to task.
"They must come out with a clear, consistent and concise timeline on media practitioners' vaccinations. This is to ensure that it will happen, not just some vague timeline that gives false hope as it is now.
"We understand there are efforts to vaccinate the media now. We urge that the media is taken into consideration to be vaccinated.
"We are always there to bring news and information, apart from combating false and or fake news that is rampant now," said Radzi, who added that the media had been working on the frontline since the start of the pandemic.
The only ones who had their vaccines were those lucky enough to get the "raffle" when the AstraZeneca opt-in programme registration opened recently, he said.
With no protection against the invisible virus threat, Radzi said media practitioners had been sacrificing their health and safety to do their job.
He commended the media for still giving their all working in these conditions amid the pandemic, describing them as unsung heroes.
But their selfless act came at a cost with the emergence of workplace infections at several media companies.
Nevertheless, Radzi urged the media to be relentless in pressuring the ministries and the people in charge of the vaccine supply to ensure they are immunised against the virus.
"No boycott (of events) for now but the media should voice grouses. They should refrain from going to some events that they deem to be too dangerous or risky," he said.
He urged media organisations to exert pressure on the authorities to acquire vaccines.
The Alliance For Safe Community chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye also said the government must decide on a timeline and vaccination dates for the media instead of letting them wait.
Lee opined it was better to keep media practitioners in the loop on the exact date instead of giving the word 'soon'.
With Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah saying that it would happen this month without a definite date, Lee said it only created doubt and stress among media practitioners due to fear of infection.
"The media should have been included a long time ago right after the inoculation of medical and non-medical frontliners for a sense of safety and security.
"That should have been the way, instead of allowing some of the less deserving people to be vaccinated.
"The authorities should produce plans on how to operationalise it. Matters like giving out appointment dates and which media house goes first must be done," said Lee.
When asked, Lee agreed that the media should stand down or boycott physical events in the interest of health safety.
This was especially for events that likely involve a big number of people and crowd.
"In the interest of the health of the media practitioners, they should not be at the scene."
Veteran newsman Datuk A. Kadir Jasin said the work of media practitioners could be jeopardised if they are not vaccinated.
"What is happening to journalists could give rise to conspiracy theories that until they are vaccinated, people dealing with them would have the excuse not to do so in close proximity.
"So this means a face-to-face press conference cannot be held as not all journalists have been vaccinated."