BERA, Oct 28 — The monsoon season, which is expected to start in mid-November in several states, will not affect the ongoing COVID-19 booster shot exercise for the frontliners and those who are eligible.
Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali said this was because the administering of the booster dose was carried out in private health facilities, adding that the Ministry of Health (MOH) had been informed that the number of private general practitioners (GP) keen on joining the immunisation programme was increasing.
“ProtectHealth Corporation Sdn Bhd (the company under the MOH tasked with coordinating the involvement of GPs participating in the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme) would also implement courses for GPs due to the increase in GP registration,” he told a media conference after observing the vaccination of students at Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Triang 2 here today.
He also inoculated two students receiving their second dose with the Pfizer vaccine.
According to him, in Pahang, some 85 clinics had applied to be GPs, with 63 of them already operating, besides receiving assistance from health clinics to expedite the process.
He pointed out that a total of 8,323 MOH personnel in Pahang had received their booster jabs so far since it was launched on Oct 15.
Commenting on the confusion over the progress data of the immunisation programme on the COVIDNOW website that showed three states exceeding 100 per cent vaccination rate, he said that was because some individuals “chose” to get vaccinated in these states instead of the health facilities where they lived.
The three states which recorded over 100 per cent vaccination rates were the Klang Valley (115 per cent), Labuan (101.4 per cent) and Negeri Sembilan (101 per cent).
