KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 (Sin Chew Daily) — More than a thousand migrant workers queued up at Bukit Jalil Sports Complex on the first day of COVID-19 vaccination offered to non-Malaysians.

The COVID-19 Immunization Task Force (CITF) announced earlier that non-Malaysians could walk-in to receive vaccination at Bukit Jalil Sports Complex from 2pm Monday.

The national vaccination center at Bukit Jalil Sports Complex opened for non-Malaysians to register at 9am Monday.

A visit to Bukit Jalil Sports Complex at 12pm revealed that many migrant workers queued up in front of the entrance of the national vaccination center.

RELA volunteers requested those waiting at the entrance to queue up properly. The line stretched to more than 500 meters within one hour.

As the announcement was made in the Malay language, many migrant workers were unable to understand the instructions completely.

Many were seen approaching volunteers to ask questions.

RELA also urged walk-in Malaysians to leave due to the large crowd. Malaysians were told to receive their jabs at KL Convention Center instead.

A volunteer with CITF, Madam Chen said 3,000 doses of the vaccines had been allocated to non-Malaysians who turned up as early as 7am.

As the number of migrant workers increased to more than 1,000 in just a few hours, the walk-in registration counter had to be shut down temporarily at around noon.

Many migrant workers who did not manage to register were seen loitering in the area waiting for a 'miracle'.

As some failed to turn up for their second injections, the registration counter reopened at 1pm.

It is learned that 1,500 doses of vaccines were offered to migrant workers in the afternoon session.

RELA and staff at the vaccination center checked the workers' MySejahtera app and documents before pasting stickers on their arms for vaccination, said Madam Chen.

Several translators were present to assist migrant workers from Myanmar, Bangladesh and other countries who were unable to communicate in English or Malay.

The vaccination center at Bukit Jalil offers non-Malaysians COVID-19 vaccination from August 9 to 22.