GEORGE TOWN: The first phase of Covid-19 vaccinations in Penang will involve more than 30,000 frontliners, says Chow Kon Yeow (pic).
The Penang Chief Minister said he hoped that the process would be smooth with equal distribution to the state.
"The Penang government is giving full commitment to the Federal government regarding its implementation of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.
"I was informed by the state Health Department and state National Security Council (NSC) that from next week, Penang would receive the Covid-19 vaccine in stages and it will be placed in two hospitals, ” said Chow.
The first batch of vaccines is expected to arrive in Penang at 6pm on Sunday (Feb 21).
"The state government wants to ensure that 70% of Penangites, or about 1.3 million, will receive the vaccine in order to form herd immunity in the state.
"In fact, the state government is also waiting for feedback from the Health Ministry regarding the proposal from the private sector to donate one million vaccines to Penangites.
"In the meantime, the state government is continuing discussions with several parties regarding the supply of vaccines, management and speeding up the vaccination period to the people of this state compared to what is scheduled by the Health Ministry now, which is within a year," he said in a statement on Sunday.
Chow added that the state government would continue carrying out mass screenings involving the manufacturing and production sectors in Penang.
"From an early stage, we have emphasised the need for the implementation of mass screening so that contact tracing and treatment can be implemented more effectively, especially for the manufacturing and production sectors, as well as construction which is a major contributor to the cases and clusters in the state.
"Therefore, we will continue to discuss and expedite the implementation as a result of joint effort by several private parties as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the state.
"In the special session of the NSC on Covid-19 management, chaired by the Prime Minister via a video conference on Friday (Feb 19), I have requested further feedback to enable the Penang branch of the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) to implement mass screening initiatives involving the manufacturing sector.
"At the session, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that it could be implemented but found to be less suitable during this third wave period," he said.
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