Khairy Jamaluddin, National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) Coordinating Minister, has announced the launch of a PICK Github repository containing detailed daily vaccination data. The minister says the available data will be expanded over time and welcomes other global data repositories to use ours at their discretion.
The data cache is separated into two CSV files that can either be viewed or downloaded by the public. One contains daily and cumulative vaccination information on a national level, while the other is on a state level. As of its launch, the datasets contain 126 days of data, from 24 February to 29 June. “As vaccination ramps up, I recognise the importance of data sharing and public scrutiny,” said Khairy.
https://twitter.com/redouad/status/1410172743488884737
Edouard Mathieu, head of data for Our World In Data, praised the initiative and said that he wished more countries would follow suit. Our World In Data is an online publication that researches global issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ghows Azzam, KJ’s science advisor, reminded people on social media just a few days ago that they can follow the daily updates on the Special Committee On COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) Twitter page, but some users, including Astro Awani journalist Nailah Huda, asked for granular data of vaccinations on spreadsheets instead of infographics.
The Github launch is a positive step as Selangor, the worst-hit state, has been asking for granular COVID-19 data since October 2020, when the Selangor Task Force Covid 19 (STFC) said that the federal ministry of health refused to share detailed information with the state. Dr. Adham Baba, Minister of Health, explained that they refused to give other parties access to raw COVID-19 data because of previous “unwanted” incidents.
(Sources: Twitter [Khairy Jamaluddin] [Ghows Azzam], CodeBlue)
