PUTRAJAYA (July 19): Two Prasarana assets namely the Putra Heights LRT station and the Cheras Selatan Rapid Bus Complex have been converted into the industry vaccination centres (PPVIN) for the land transport sector.
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong said it was a joint initiative by the Ministry of Transport (MOT), together with the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MOSTI) and Ministry of Health (MOH) to carry out the vaccination programme for the economic frontliners in the transport sector.
The PPVIN at Putra Heights LRT station, which commenced operations today, will be serving about 2,598 recipients involving Prasarana staff from rail services and the employees of the Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp).
The PPVIN at Cheras Selatan Rapid Bus Complex will begin operations on Wednesday, involving 2,914 employees of the company’s bus service operations, he said in a statement.
Aside from providing the PPVIN venue, Wee said Prasarana has also assigned its employees who have volunteered at the vaccination centres to assist in crowd and queue control, logistics, and registrations.
The opening of these PPVIN is part of larger efforts to expedite delivery of vaccines to the transport sector, which is an essential service to ensure that the movement of goods and daily lives of people are not hindered, said Wee.
He said MOT had submitted a list of 48,973 names from the taxi and e-hailing categories and 69,458 p-hailing riders’ names to the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) for vaccination.
“Based on the existing data, as of July 17, some 56% taxi and e-hailing drivers have received their vaccination appointments, and 49% for p-hailing riders,” he said.
He added that the ministry was also in the process of obtaining approvals to open additional PPVIN for the transport sector in Johor, Penang, Pahang, Terengganu, Perak, and Selangor, as well as additional doses for Port Klang PPVIN to expedite vaccinations for seafarers, port workers, and logistics sector employees.
“This initiative is estimated to benefit more than 54,000 transport sector workers,” he said.
