Interstate & overseas travel for fully vaccinated Malaysians
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, controlling movement has been one of the key strategies of the government to curb the spread of the disease in our country.
Interstate and overseas travel, among others, have been prohibited for a while now. But this restriction may be coming to an end soon for fully vaccinated Malaysians following a recent statement by Khairy Jamaluddin, the coordinating minister for the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK).
Travel restrictions may be lifted soon
Image credit: Khairy Jamaluddin
On 20th June 2021, Astro Awani reported that the government is looking into easing several restrictions, including interstate travel, for Malaysians who have successfully received two COVID-19 vaccination jabs.
Khairy said the technical working committee of PICK is examining the proposal by looking at data from other countries before submitting the finalised recommendations to the National Security Council (NSC).
He also cited the guidelines by the Centers For Disease Control (And Prevention) in the US where fully vaccinated individuals are allowed to remove their masks when meeting in a room.
COVID-19 vaccination passport
Image credit: Jernej Furman / Flickr
During the press conference on Sunday, 20th June 2021, Khairy who is also Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation spoke of a COVID-19 vaccine passport.
BERNAMA reported that Malaysians who have completed their COVID-19 vaccination “will have a yellow profile on their MySejahtera application, which acts as a vaccine passport”. This will allow “a certain degree of freedom to do things” that were restricted before, such as gathering for social events and travelling internationally.
The idea of a COVID-19 vaccine passport is also something the government is looking into to ease travel restrictions. As reported by The Edge Markets, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, Malaysia’s Health Director-General said that “proof of COVID-19 vaccination may be made a requirement for interstate and foreign travel”.
Speaking at a webinar, he clarified that the idea of a vaccine passport is “one of the measures being considered” by the government for easing interstate and overseas travel restrictions.
Interstate & overseas travel for fully vaccinated Malaysians
While this may be a good news for many and a sign of returning normalcy, let’s remember that the battle against COVID-19 is not over. We are still fighting the pandemic and that means we all should practise the SOPs faithfully even if we are fully vaccinated.