The Education Ministry is believed to have the largest number of staff who are yet to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

This according to director-general of the Public Service Department, Mohd Khairul Adib Abd Rahman, in a statement yesterday.

Khairul, who did not divulge further details as to the composition of the unvaccinated individuals, said the PSD is in the midst of updating data on unvaccinated civil servants and this is expected to be completed in two weeks' time.

"The data is being updated and the PSD will re-examine the reasons given by these civil servants for not wanting to be vaccinated. The reasons will (then) be reviewed by each department head, so heads of department must go down to the field to understand the reasons given," he reportedly said.

To date, more than 77 per cent of the country's population has been fully vaccinated.

It is worth noting that the PSD had previously issued a circular mandating civil servants, including teachers, to be inoculated against COVID-19, before Nov 1, or risk having disciplinary action taken against them.

According to Khairul, no such action has been taken against any civil servant, thus far.

Malaysia currently ranks 10th in the list of countries with the most vaccinated population - ahead of countries like Japan, Australia, and South Korea.

The country's rapid vaccination has helped bring down COVID-19 cases, as well as hospitalisations and deaths related to the disease.

To date, 2.51 million people have been infected with COVID-19 in the country, while 29,349 people have died from it.

The global coronavirus infection and death tally, meanwhile, has surpassed 251 million, and 5 million, respectively.


Source: Bernama
Photo source: Astro Awani