Over 320,000 Have Registered As MyVAC Volunteers To Date, With Most Of Them Being Youths

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This Spotlight is sponsored by the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

According to the Ministry of Health (MOH), 94.9% of adult Malaysians have received two full doses of vaccine as of 28 October 2021. This brings the total count of fully vaccinated individuals to over 22 million.

From healthcare workers who administered vaccines, to non-healthcare volunteers who helped with crowd control, temperature screening, and administrative duties, everyone played a role in making the vaccination rollout in Malaysia a success.

"As a volunteer with MyVAC, I am so grateful I was chosen to be on duty since May until October. It was such a great experience working with various agencies and interacting with thousands of people. I would say that this was a once-in-a-lifetime volunteering experience for me," shared 24-year-old Mohamad Murshyid, a recent graduate of International Islamic University Malaysia.

MyVAC is a platform to mobilise volunteers for Malaysia's vaccination programme, and was established in collaboration with KBS, MOH, and several other government and non-government organisations.

Through the initiative, the government has been able to assign healthcare workers and non-healthcare volunteers to 605 PPVs around Malaysia.

"If we look at the sign up response, it is very encouraging, in fact, the number of volunteers already exceeds what we need," said Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu, in an interview with Utusan Malaysia.

In fact, Faizal said that the majority of those who signed up for MyVAC were actually youths who were interested in volunteerism.

Khairuddin Othman, an operations director at Alphat Training & Resources, volunteered with KBS to help prepare SOPs ahead of certain COVID-19 relief efforts.

"Apart from meeting new people and getting volunteer experience, I was also trained to think outside the box when facing a problem. This experience will definitely come in handy to help me lead my company in finding new ideas and initiatives to help other youths," said the 37-year-old volunteer.

Faiz Shuhaimi, on the other hand, shared how KBS continually empowers youths with disabilities to also contribute through volunteerism.

"KBS has opened up inclusive opportunities for OKU youths to contribute their energy and skills together to help the society," shared Faiz.

Since joining the non-governmental organisation Majlis Belia Malaysia in 2016, Faiz has been able to take part in volunteer efforts for local communities, flood victims, and COVID-19 relief efforts. In fact, he now runs a Relawan Untuk Malaysia initiative to help those affected by the pandemic, and is the president for Majlis Belia OKU Malaysia.

As the group that comprises 46.5% of the population, Malaysian youth have been active in stepping up and fulfilling their roles in helping the community. It also goes to show that we have a young generation that's caring and always ready to serve.

In addition to volunteerism, KBS is committed in empowering youths, especially with their involvement in the gig economy and entrepreneurship. According to the ministry, they have come up with all kinds of avenues to help youths enter into this segment of the economy, with even more to come in line with the recent Bajet 2022.

So far, KBS has partnered with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) to implement the MyGIG programme as one of the initiatives to create employment opportunities for youths. The Malaysia Youth Entrepreneur (MyPRENEUR) Entrepreneurship Development Program is another effort launched to boost the potential of successful youth entrepreneurs.

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