Vaccination Queue in Malaysia is So Long That People in Line Had to ‘Hug Each Other’

By
Sabrina Chua
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By now, most of us are probably already used to seeing Safe Distancing Ambassadors in red and hearing them tell us to keep a safe distance from others in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

But what if they weren’t there to remind us about keeping a safe distance?

What would happen?

Vaccination Queue in Malaysia is So Long That People in Line Had to ‘Hug Each Other’

A viral seven-minute video that was posted on Instagram on 11 August has raised concerns that more cases will emerge after many people, who appeared to be foreigners, were seen queueing outside the Rumah Prihatin @ Grand Seasons hotel public vaccination centre in Kuala Lumpur without any safe distancing.

In fact, it looked like there was no distancing at all. It looked like they were just giving back hugs to the person in front of them.

The video also showed a man getting off from his motorcycle on the side of the road to tell everyone in the queue to space out. Many of them did as they were told, and they were seen moving back, but the distance between each person was still not enough to be considered a safe distance.

The man asked the patrol officers to intervene, but it seemed like it didn’t help much either.

He also later revealed that the police complained about his motorcycle being parked illegally even though they had bigger problems to be worrying about – the massive amount of people in line who were breaking COVID-19 safety measures.

Frustrated with this entire situation, he was recorded in the video saying, “Why are you busying yourself with my motorcycle parked on the yellow line, but not the thousands who were queuing like they were hugging one another? Why do the people in power – from ministers to police – not know how to exercise their powers in situations like this? People are dying. Fathers, mothers, children – all these people are dying. Use your powers.”

The man was so upset with the incident that he started breaking down in tears.

Actions Taken

Upon seeing the video, Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob asked the authorities to take action. He also wrote in an Instagram post saying, “I am shocked to see the video of the situation at the Rumah Prihatin Hotel Grand Seasons and PPV Bukit Jalil today. The standard operating procedures (SOPs) have been flouted. I hope the authorities can ensure situations, where foreign workers are crammed like this, will not happen again because it can cause a sudden rise in cases. I will contact the relevant ministries and the police so that this incident can be handled immediately.”

Authorities have also released a statement saying that a compliance team was deployed to manage the situation at the Rumah Prihatin Hotel Grand Seasons, and that they managed to keep the situation under control until the entire vaccination programme was done.

Everyone was reminded to keep a safe distance and keep their face masks on.

Stemmed From A Misunderstanding

According to reports, it seems that the massive crowd stemmed from a misunderstanding that “Rumah Prihatin provides a walk-in vaccine service for non-citizens”.

Seeing as it was a place for foreigners to get vaccinated, many of them rushed to the location to queue up for their jab, especially since Malaysia has been reporting record-high infections for the past few weeks.

The hotel later clarified that the only public vaccination centre that provided walk-in vaccinations for non-citizens is the Bukit Jalil National Stadium.

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Featured Image: Instagram (bondaumirahtaib) 

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Sabrina Chua
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