PUTRAJAYA, March 2 — A total of 7,000 firefighters, who are also the frontliners, have registered to receive the vaccine in the first phase of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme said Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin.
She said the vaccination exercise will be carried out in stages beginning this Friday, where she and Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) director-general Datuk Seri Muhammad Hamdan Wahid will among those to receive the vaccine on that day.
Zuraida, when met by reporters after launching the 2021 National Landscape Day, said there are 14,000 firefighters nationwide.
Themed ‘Protect Oneself, Protect Everyone’, the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme which began on Feb 24 will be carried out in three phases, to ensure that at least 80 per cent of Malaysian adults receive the COVID-19 vaccine by February 2022.
Phase 1 from February to April is for over 500,000 frontliners, while Phase 2 from April to August involves senior citizens aged 65 and above, high-risk groups with morbidity issues and the disabled involving 9.4 million people.
Phase 3 from May to February 2022 is for everyone else aged 18 years and above, including foreigners, targeting more than 13.7 million people.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah and several other frontliners were the first to receive the vaccine on Feb 24.
To date, a total of 32,277 people have received the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
