UPDATE (24 Feb / 2:00 PM): National Security Council has confirmed that this update will indeed allow users to register for their COVID-19 vaccines. More details below.
ORIGINAL STORY (23 Feb / 6:35 PM):
A recent update to MySejahtera has added a new section called COVID-19 Vaccination into the app. The wordings within the section as well as the app’s update log are not really clear but it seems quite likely that this is the very section where the public is required to fill up in order to obtain their COVID-19 vaccine.
Back in January, the Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin stated that the public can register for the vaccine through the MySejahtera app. He once again mentioned this during an interview earlier this month in which he revealed the five registration methods for the National COVID-19 Immunisation Program (NCIP).
As noted above, the new update would bump up the MySejahtera app to version 1.0.28 on both iOS and Android version of the app. Inside the new COVID-19 Vaccination section, there is a subsection that is labelled as “Vaccine for [user’s full name]” in which users are asked to confirm personal information that they have provided to MySejahtera.
As you can see in the image below, users are being asked to make sure to input their details exactly as per their government-issued identification document:
Once you have confirmed and submitted the details, this screen will appear:
Pressing the “Next” button at the bottom of this section will bring you to this particular screen:
The way we see, the wordings throughout these pages are rather vague as they don’t indicate exactly whether users have actually been registered into the vaccination program or otherwise. In other words, it didn’t specifically say that users’ intention to obtain the vaccine have been recorded by the back-end system of MySejahtera or even NCIP.
Meanwhile, clicking on the link on the confirmation screen will bring you to another questionnaire that asks about your interest in taking the vaccine, comorbidities, OKU status, and your current place of residence. Once again, we are not sure if the back-end system actually records the answers to these questions since the app would not stop users from answering the questionnaire again and again for the time being.
For all intents and purposes, it seemed to us that the function of this section within MySejahtera at the moment is just to make sure users have input their personal information correctly. That being said though, users are indeed unable to edit their details once they have been submitted.
Another reason that made us feel that this section is not yet fully functioning is the fact that none of the related authority bodies such as the Ministry of Health (MoH), National Security Council (MKN), and the Special Committee on COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) has said anything about the new section.
We have since reached out to JKJAV, MKN, and Minister Khairy through Twitter for clarifications but have yet to receive any response at the time this article was published.
Do note that all the things that we pointed out above should not make you feel alarmed though. Minister Khairy has previously said that the registration for the vaccine will only open in March and it would not be closed until the vaccination program meets its objective to cover 70% to 80% of the population.
UPDATE (24 Feb / 2:00PM):
While none of the authorities responded to our query, MKN has officially confirmed that the new COVID-19 Vaccination section in MySejahtera is indeed how the public can register for their vaccines.
This confirmation was done through this diagram that was posted on MKN’s official Twitter account earlier today:
PANDUAN PENDAFTARAN PROGRAM VAKSINASI MELALUI APLIKASI
MY SEJAHTERA@KKMPutrajaya @jpmgov_ @JPenerangan @my_sejahtera
@kkmm_gov @officialmosti @MyMOTAC @MOFmalaysia pic.twitter.com/JYV34YXhCc— MAJLIS KESELAMATAN NEGARA (@MKNJPM) February 24, 2021
As noted earlier, you first have to make sure that the MySejahtera app has been updated to version 1.0.28 in order to access the new COVID-19 Vaccination section and submit your details for NCIP.
In case you wondering about the timeline for the vaccine rollout in Malaysia, here it is:
The COVID-19 vaccines will be disturbed to all Malaysians as well as foreigners that reside in Malaysia for free at 605 Vaccine Distribution Centres throughout the country. So, make sure to keep a close look for further updates regarding your vaccination session through MySejahtera.
