SEPANG, PHILIPPINES (July 6): According to Khairy Jamaluddin, opening vaccination centers (PPVs) in areas subject to the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) will be challenging because the list of places subject to such restrictions changes frequently. According to the Coordinating Minister for the National Covid-19 Immunization Program (PICK), the “dynamic” character of EMCO lists makes it difficult to provide vaccinations to new inoculation centers every week.
“Perhaps it is under EMCO this week; perhaps it will depart EMCO next week.” It will be more difficult if we have to relocate supply for the entire country based on a continually changing EMCO list,” he told reporters today after touring the Kuala Lumpur International Airport’s (KLIA) industrial vaccination facility (PPVIN).
He was asked about the Selangor government’s plan to create a PPV at the Mentari Court flats in Petaling Jaya, which have been under EMCO’s control since July 1. The Mentari Court PPV began operations yesterday, vaccinating around 8,000 inhabitants.
The distribution of vaccinations to states is based on numerous metrics, including high rates of Covid-19 positive and incidence, according to Khairy, who is also the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation.
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“We change the (vaccine) distribution every week based on data from the states involved.” Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Labuan, and Negeri Sembilan, for example, are among the states with a high occurrence rate this month,” he noted.
More PPVINs would be set up at airports across the country, according to Khairy, after the first one for the aviation sector launched at KLIA yesterday with a capacity of 1,000 doses per day.
“The CITF (Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force) has agreed to give the aviation sector priority in PICK to protect workers in this crucial area,” he said.
According to Khairy, 27 PPVINs began operating in the first week of this month around the country, and CITF has received requests for the construction of more such centers involving numerous other ministries.
International commerce and industry, works, and transportation are the ministries already involved in the PPVIN program, while plantation industries and commodities, as well as domestic trade and consumer affairs, are ready to participate, he said.
Meanwhile, Khairy stated that all countries should come to an agreement on vaccine recognition policies while deciding on their immigration laws.
“We still don’t know much about many countries’ immigration policy because they haven’t been finalized yet.”
Some governments have implemented restrictions, such as only recognizing vaccines used in their own country. As a result, the dialogue process for other countries is still ongoing,” he stated.
Malaysia’s position, according to Khairy, is that all vaccines on the World Health Organization’s list should be recognized by all countries.
He also said that if any nations did not recognize the vaccines used in Malaysia, they could consider requiring swab testing as a condition of entry for Malaysians./n
