PUTRAJAYA, June 9 — The government will be commencing the dispensing of vaccine to critical economic sectors especially those which are required to operate throughout the Movement Control Order (MCO) soon, said National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
He said the COVID-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV) would be cooperating with a non-profit subsidiary of the Ministry of Health (MOH), Protect Health Corporation Sdn Bhd to manage the handling of vaccination shots to the sectors.
In a joint media conference with Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba on the development of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme, Khairy said the industrial sector comprised manufacturing, export, logistics, transportation, energy, utilities and other relating industries.
“After looking at the spread of cases and taking into consideration of the national immunisation programme, there is a phase 4 which is the outbreak control phase so JKJAV decided to start the vaccination.
“Now JKJAV is cooperating with the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), Works Ministry, Transport Ministry, Tourism and Culture Ministry and other government agencies to implement phase 4 for the affected economic sectors,” he said.
Khairy said for a start, a vaccination centre (PPV) would be opened at the Petronas Complex in Pengerang, Johor on June 16 after JKJAV found the complex as a high risk area.
“We will be starting our industry PPV for employees at the complex… while the others will follow,” he said.
Meanwhile he said the COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) is currently working together with relevant agencies and ministries to set a schedule of fair and reasonable charges to be borne by the industry and companies participating in the industry PPV programme.
“The government offers the vaccine for free as our commitment under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme but the industries will bear the cost of administering the vaccination that includes the cost of rental, logistic, etc… however there’s inconsistency in terms of additional charges where companies are being quoted different prices by different companies,” he said
He said in line with phase 4, which is the Outbreak Control Phase, mobile truck PPVs would be deployed to industrial areas still operating under MCO including at the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) rail construction sites under MMC Gamuda yesterday.
“Mobile trucks are a new initiative which was mobilised on June 7 at the Muhibbah People Housing Project (PPR) as a pilot project in the Federal Territory…involving 1,000 recipients at each location.
“JKJAV found the programme succcessful and is planning to expand mobile trucks into certain areas such as PPR flats and also specific industry sites,” he said by giving more focus to red zone states especially the Klang Valley.
On vaccination for senior citizens, he said almost 60 per cent of senior citizens registered under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme had and would receive the first dose by the middle of this month.
He said 2,256,257 senior citizens have registered for vaccination and from the total, 855,124 people have received their first dose while 436,244 have received their appointments until June 15.
“Other senior citizens will get the appointment dates for vaccination soon,” he said.
Yesterday, he said the country recorded the highest rate of vaccination since the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme was launched which was 151,309 doses and the committee hopes the rate achieved will be consistent and by July , it is expected to reach 200,000 a day.
Meanwhile, Khairy said the committee is studying a proposal by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to implement automatic registration to ensure as many as possible get vaccinated.,
