Workers on MRT Putrajaya line snap up 1,000 vaccination slots under FT Ministry mobile pilot programme

MMC Gamuda's employees after received their 1st dose of vaccine at the mobile vaccination unit set up to vaccine 1000 workers involved with the construction of MRT Putrajaya line.—AZMAN GHANI/The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: Some 1,000 workers involved in the construction of the MRT Putrajaya Line have received their Covid-19 vaccines under a pilot programme.

The vaccination exercise was part of the MYMedic@Wilayah Vaccine Mobile Truck project aimed at speeding up vaccination of workers involved in essential sectors that are allowed to operate during the movement control order.

MMC Gamuda project director Datuk Wong Wai Ching said the company was selected by the Federal Territories Ministry as it is involved with a critical public transportation project which is due for completion next month.

"The pilot programme offered 1,000 vaccine doses to our workers who are mainly at the frontline.

"Registration for the vaccine was voluntary as we can't force our workers to sign up," he said when met on Tuesday (June 8).

He noted the vaccine slots were quickly taken up as workers eagerly volunteered for the shots.

"This shows that the community now understands the value of vaccination in the current circumstances," Wong said.

He added that the vaccination exercise is the latest proactive measure taken by MMC Gamuda to help in the fight against the pandemic.

He said the company launched its own in-house polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test laboratory in December, the first such private initiative in the construction industry.

The laboratory currently carries out screening of about 16,000 workers involved with Gamuda MMC projects each week, he added.

Meanwhile, the vaccination process, which began at 9am on Tuesday near the MMC Gamuda office in Jalan Chan Siow Lin, proceeded smoothly.

Vaccine recipient R. Nalinii, 28, said she was happy to be able to get the shot as she had been unsuccessful in getting an appointment under the AstraZeneca opt-in registration.

"I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get an appointment and told myself to be patient and wait my turn.

"So when I heard the company was offering 1,000 doses under a pilot programme, I immediately signed up," she said.

Nalinii, who is part of the site operations team, commended the effort by the ministry to initiate the mobile vaccination programme.

"This will help bring down the high number of Covid-19 cases and deaths in the Klang Valley," she said.