KUALA LUMPUR: Individuals who can't get vaccinated because of medical reasons can apply for an exemption on the MySejahtera mobile application, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin told the Dewan Rakyat today.
He said such individuals will need to be evaluated by approved medical professionals first.
After they have received confirmation of their medical condition, he said the individuals can apply for the certificate through MySejahtera at the nearest district health office.
"Those who can evaluate you are private hospital personnel, medical professionals who treat you in the absence of a doctor at government hospitals or family doctors at government clinics.
"If these individuals meet these criteria, their application for this digital certificate will be approved within the week," he said in response to a question from Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis (Warisan-Kota Belud).
Isnaraissah had asked on the possibility of those yet to be inoculated to also move around, now that restrictions are being eased because of the increase in vaccination rates.
She also asked about the government's plan in addressing the issue of anti-vaxxers and vaccine-hesitant individuals.
In response to this, Khairy expressed optimism that the ease of restrictions for the vaccinated at the moment would attract the anti-vaxxers and vaccine-hesitant individuals to get their jabs too.
"According to the department of statistics, 94.3 per cent of adults have received one dose while 87.6 per cent of the adult population have been fully vaccinated. So as you can see, the numbers (those unvaccinated) are small.
"However, to increase the vaccination rate, we have some contingencies in place in certain sectors, like making it mandatory for all government employees to be vaccinated while the private sector hopefully will follow suit.
"For those who are still adamant about not getting vaccinated, we have already announced some freedom for the fully vaccinated. With this approach, I hope those who still do not want to get vaccinated will step up and get some detailed information," he said.
Separately, he also said that non-citizens, whether they have proper documentation, are welcomed to walk in at any vaccination centres to get their jabs while assuring that the government's policy is not to deny anyone the right to be vaccinated.
"At the moment, their immigration status is not important, we want to get everyone vaccinated. I also want to add that if the person has no digital way of proving their vaccination status, they can bring along the vaccination card.
"If this card is lost, go to the nearest health office and inform them of this and we will give you a new card," he explained.