KUALA LUMPUR: The success of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme in collaboration with the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (Mosti) has allowed the full reopening of the economy, says Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (pic).
In his address during the launch of the 100-Day Malaysian Family Aspiration programme yesterday, the Prime Minister said this was the main factor in reviving the country’s economy and helping the people.
He said it created a strong basis for recovery for the country, entering the fourth quarter of the year.
“The latest figure of the unemployment rate has decreased to 4.3% in October this year, compared with the highest rate at 5.3% in May last year.
“This latest figure is lower if we compare with the previous two months, reflecting the real success within 100 days of the government’s service in providing working opportunities,” he said.
Ismail Sabri had announced during the unveiling of his Cabinet on Aug 27 that the newly-appointed ministers were given 100 days to achieve their performance targets once taking office.
A total of 31 ministries and five agencies under the Prime Minister’s Department were required to achieve their targets.
The targets were based on evaluation of performance, leadership and public perception.
The Prime Minister pointed that the Covid-19 positive cases had once reached an alarming number of 24,599 cases on Aug 26, 2021.
However, the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme has proven successful – with numbers gradually decreasing to reflect a lower level, which was 4,087 cases on Nov 29, this year.
Ismail Sabri stressed that among the main focus of the government was to improve the social welfare of the people under the third core of the Keluarga Malaysia concept, through the national Covid-19 vaccination programme.
“Through the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, the government had allocated a total of RM5.8bil for the implementation of the programme covering: procurement, logistics, management, sanitisation, implementation, advocation and others,” added Ismail Sabri.
Under the programme’s long-term plan, the Prime Minister said that the vaccination initiative for youths continued almost immediately, upon getting the green light from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“Since the implementation of the programme, the vaccination rate for the adult population in the country has reached 97.2% while the vaccination rate for teenagers aged between 12 and 17 years old has reached 86.6%,” he said.
The Prime Minister added that the National Covid-19 Immunisation programme will continue with the rollout of the booster shots to improve the protection of members of the Keluarga Malaysia against the deadly virus.
“The efforts to give out booster shots are going smoothly, involving a total of 2.6 million doses,” he said.
