Calculator helps project when you’re likely to get Covid-19 vaccine in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, 5 March 2021:

Since there are about 32.5 million people in Malaysia, not everybody can get vaccinated immediately. It raises a whole load of new questions:

  • Who will be first in the queue to get the vaccine?
  • When are you likely to be offered it?

In an effort to deliver the answers to both of these crucial questions, a vaccine queue calculator for Malaysia will estimate how many people are ahead of you in the queue to get a Covid-19 vaccine in Malaysia.

Developed by three individuals – Steven Wooding, Joanna Michałowska and Dominik Czernia in Southampton, UK and using the Omni calculator at a Polish startup – this calculator predicts how long you might have to wait to get your vaccine.

“By using our tool, you’ll have a better idea of when you can expect to get vaccinated,” Wooding said in a statement. “We’ve based our vaccine queue calculator on the government’s National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme and the likely rate of vaccination.”

To use this online calculator at Omni, you will need to provide the following details:

  • Enter your age in years.
  • Are you in a high-risk group with chronic diseases?
  • Generally, the older you are, the sooner you’ll be called up to have the vaccine.
  • Say whether you work in a public and private healthcare centre (e.g., nurse, doctor, etc.).
    Do you work in a frontline essential services, defence, or security?.
    The above two groups are likely to have a lot of exposure to the virus and need to be protected.
  • Are you pregnant or breastfeeding?

“You will then see an estimate of the minimum and the maximum number of people who are in-line to receive the vaccine before you. We also indicate how long it might be before you get both doses of the vaccine and become fully protected, based on the vaccination rate.

“We know that waiting to get the vaccine might be frustrating. However, by prioritising those people that are most at risk of hospitalisation and death, we should quickly be able to save lives with this fantastic new weapon against the virus.”

Wooding also noted the Covid-19 vaccination is not recommended in only one case – children under 18 years old.

“This shouldn’t surprise you or raise any doubts, since new drugs are usually tested on adults first. However, with more available studies, these contraindications might change.”