KUALA LUMPUR: The lines are back at the PPV in the World Trade Centre but for a different reason.

       While some of them were there for their vaccine jabs, the rest made a beeline to the MySejahtera helpdesk, hoping to settle the snags related to the app.

       Housewife Nurul Ain Abu Bakar, 31, said she came all the way from Rawang as she wanted her full vaccination status to be reflected on MySejahtera.

       “My vaccination status on the app was not updated ever since I received my first dose of the vaccine in August last year.”

       “I made repeated attempts to solve the issue through the virtual helpdesk and also asked staff at vaccination centres about it,” she said, adding, however, that her issue remained unsolved.

       So she resorted to using her physical vaccination card as proof of vaccination whenever she was asked about it.

       Nurul Ain said that she had waited in line since 8.30am and was allowed entry at slightly past noon.

       A freelance worker who only wanted to be known as Nicole said she turned up yesterday to resolve hitches with her vaccination cert.

       “After reinstalling the app on my new phone, my status stated that I had not received any vaccinations,” she said.

       Retiree N. Tinakararajan, 63, said his wife and him had the issue of their booster dose status not reflected on the PDF format in the app.

       “We tried contacting the PPV in Ipoh where we received our jabs but they were unable to help,” he said, adding that he was planning to print out physical proof of the vaccination in preparation for a trip to Australia.

       Tinakararajan, who arrived at about 1pm, said he was told instead to come again at 4pm due to crowd control measures.

       Contractor Wah Pee Choon, 56, said he was anxious about his vaccination status not being reflected on the app despite receiving his primary dose in June last year.

       “I had to forgo my booster appointment as the personnel at the vaccination centre said I needed to resolve this before being allowed to receive the booster,” he said.

       Health Ministry’s planning division senior principal assistant director Dr Husni Zaeem said 50% of the issues raised at WTC KL involved their digital vaccination certificates not being updated.

       “One possible cause is that the users had created multiple MySejahtera identification (ID).

       “This occurs when people either change devices or forget their passwords, which results in them creating new accounts.

       “Hence, their latest device or ID does not show their vaccination status as their certificates are tied to the original ID,” he said.

       He explained that once personnel were able to identify the ID used by the complainant to receive their vaccinations, they would be able to solve the matter promptly.

       Dr Husni, who oversees operations at the helpdesk at WTC, said another reason why a vaccination status was not updated could be due to the person not checking if his status had been updated prior to leaving the vaccination centre.

       “This can be resolved if the person shows his physical vaccination card to the helpdesk, so our team will use it as a reference point in the system to confirm their full vaccination,” he said.

       He said that 20 counters were opened daily at WTC KL to assist those facing issues on the MySejahtera app.

       “Those coming should bring their vaccination and ID cards to ensure the team will be able to assist them efficiently,” he said.

       Dr Mahesh Appannan, head of data at the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre, said the most common complaint they received about the MySejahtera app was that the users’ vaccination certificates did not appear on the app.

       “This is because when they get themselves vaccinated, they did not get their profiles updated. There must be an input at the PPV. If the PPV does not update it, then it would not be updated on the app,” he said.

       Dr Mahesh said individuals have to immediately alert the PPV if their vaccination certificate is not updated as the PPV would be able to rectify it.

       He also said that users who changed their phone number, or forgot their user ID as well as having general tech issues on the app were some of the other common problems.

       The physical helpdesk at WTC KL is opened daily until March 15, serving 800 people a day.

       The helpdesk at the Ideal Convention Centre, Shah Alam, is open today, and on March 5 and 6.

       Dr Mahesh pointed out that the team was working hard to improve their online helpdesk.

       “We are streamlining and improving our online helpdesk.

       “We need to diagnose why the issues were not really resolved,” he said.