Klang Valley AstraZeneca Vaccine Appointments All Snapped Up, But More Slots Maybe Coming Soon

The website to sign up for early inoculations was overloaded with traffic.

Credit: JKJAV

Klang Valleyans should start receiving their AstraZeneca (AZ) Covid-19 vaccine appointments today (3 May), said Science, Technology & Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin following the government’s open call for the public to volunteer for early inoculations.

Khairy, who’s leading the National Immunization Program (PICK), explained on social media that Selangor and Kuala Lumpur residents who’ve booked themselves a spot for the jab will be notified via the MySejahtera mobile application.

Some people should be waking up to their AZ appointments in their MySj. These are progressively being pushed out throughout today. Any issues please reach out to @JKJAVMY.
— Khairy Jamaluddin 🇲🇾🌺 (@Khairykj) May 3, 2021

AZ vaccine fully booked

On Sunday noon, the government had opened an online registration counter on the official PICK website – allowing the public a chance to make their own appointments to receive the AZ vaccine at one of four special vaccination centres (PPV) between the month of May and June.

The aim of the program was to boost the country’s vaccination rate and improve public perception on the AZ vaccine.

Merely hours after online counters went live, it was announced that all 268,000 AZ vaccine slots were filled.

Recent numbers from the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) showed that over nine million people have registered to receive Covid-19 vaccinations in Malaysia.

However, it’s safe to speculate that we’re still a long way from reaching the nation’s target to immunize 80% of Malaysia’s estimated 32 million population, as presently, only 883,661 people have received either one or both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

More vaccines to come

Public response towards the early vaccination call was overwhelming, to say the least.

Khairy had further revealed that there will be more AZ vaccine coming in the future and explained that people who were deligated to the ‘waiting list’ will be made a priority the next time around.

We have closed the AZ wait list. There are more AZ vaccines scheduled for delivery. We will prioritise those on the wait list when the new shipment arrives.
— Khairy Jamaluddin 🇲🇾🌺 (@Khairykj) May 2, 2021

Mixed reviews on early vaccination

As denizens began sharing news of how they’ve successfully booked their appointments, the public was made aware of ‘glitches’ on the JKJAV webpage due to the high amount of traffic it received.

All AZ slots are fully booked. My apologies for the initial glitch and multiple refreshes 🙏🏾. You can still click on the grey boxes to put yourself on a wait list for next couple of hours. We will start pushing appts to your MySj or sms soon. pic.twitter.com/aBKwCsIRUu
— Khairy Jamaluddin 🇲🇾🌺 (@Khairykj) May 2, 2021

It was also noted that registrations made before 12 pm on Sunday would not be accepted, leading to more confusion online.

But if I try to re register it says I can’t. I got in at 1159. How will this work? It’s terribly unfair isnt?
— Farah Jaafar-Crossby (@farahjc) May 2, 2021

While many conveyed relief of being on the early vaccination list, others had felt more reprehensive about the whole program and expressed reservations over the process – saying that it resembled how you would rush to book and purchase concert tickets before they sold out or getting lucky in the lottery.

I understand that many feel there should be better way for people to get the vaccine rather than booking it like it’s a concert ticket, but I think this is done this way because many expressed their concern about AZ’s side effects and many seems to reject it.
— AzyanDraws🇲🇾 | Close Art Commission atm (@AzyanDraws) May 2, 2021