Last Pick: Why GPs didn’t get early shot at vaccine rollout

Dr N Ganabaskaran has, in his 45 years as a doctor, administered vaccines a “thousand” times.

Generally, it’s a three-step process that isn’t difficult to carry out, he said. Nor is it hard to train others to vaccinate a patient.

Which is the reason Ganabaskaran is puzzled as to why the almost 8,000 general practitioners (GPs) in the country were not roped in earlier into Pick, the national Covid-19 vaccination exercise, when it began rolling out in February. They weren’t even enlisted to help carry out Covid testing.

“These days, both doctors and nurses are administering jabs,” he tells Between The Lines.

Hence, Ganabaskaran, a former president of the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), considers leaving GPs out of the early stages of Pick as one of the government’s “biggest mistake”.

Asked how GPs feel about not being recruited earlier, his answer is simple.

“They’re...