KUALA LUMPUR — An overwhelming majority of Malaysian respondents who registered for Covid-19 immunisation told a survey last week that they were motivated by the desire to protect both themselves and their family.
In the survey by market research firm Vase.ai, a total of 1,150 Malaysians nationwide of various ethnicities and ages were polled on April 23 for their thoughts on the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.
While the survey report did not mention how many out of the 1,150 respondents had signed up to be vaccinated against Covid-19, the report dived into the reasons for those who had registered for the vaccination.
The survey found that 84 per cent of Malaysian respondents who had registered for vaccinations said it was to protect themselves and their family members, citing as example a Bumiputera man aged 50 from East Malaysia who had responded: “One of the way for me to lessen the risk of getting infected with Covid-19. I want to help myself, my family and the community.”
As for other motivations for signing up for the Covid-19 vaccination, the survey report noted that 10 per cent of those who had registered said they were asked to register, citing as example a Bumiputera man aged 43 from the central region of peninsula Malaysia saying that he had taken up the government’s call for the public to accept being administered with Covid-19 vaccines which were verified to be safe.
Another 4 per cent said they had registered for Covid-19 vaccination for travelling purposes, noting as example a Chinese female respondent aged 23 from peninsula Malaysia’s northern region as telling the survey “for travel overseas in future”.
The survey of 1,150 Malaysians comprised 48 per cent male and 52 per cent female respondents, with 67 per cent of the respondents being Bumiputera, 23 per cent being Chinese and nine per cent of Indian ethnicity and other ethnicities.
In terms of age, the 1,150 Malaysians involved 27 per cent from the 18 to 24 age group, 30 per cent from the 25 to 34 age group, 23 per cent from the 35 to 44 age group and 20 per cent from the age group of 45 and above.
In terms of geographical distribution, those from peninsula Malaysia were from the Central region (25 per cent), Northern region (21 per cent), Southern region (17 per cent), East Coast region (14 per cent), while those from East Malaysia comprised 23 per cent.
Based on the latest information released by the Malaysia government’s Special Committee on Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV), a total of 9,365,711 or 9.3 million individuals in Malaysia have registered to receive Covid-19 vaccination.
This represents 38.6 per cent of the Malaysian population aged 18 and above.
As of April 28, the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) figures show that over 1.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in Malaysia as of April 28, comprising of 871,219 persons who have received their first doses and 537,996 persons who have received their second doses.
Under Malaysia’s National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, the three phases of Covid-19 immunisation that were initially outlined are – targeted vaccination of 500,000 frontliners (February to April 2021), 9.4 million frontliners and high-risk groups such as senior citizens or those with chronic illnesses and persons with disabilities (April to August 2021), 13.7 million or more adults including foreigners and Malaysians (May 2021 to February 2022).