The Perak Menteri Besar during the virtual media conference.

IPOH, 4 June 2021- The state government will implement five initiatives to achieve the target of 15,000 daily jabs in June 2021 compared to the average 8,000 daily jabs in May. The announcement was made by Menteri Besar Dato' Saarani Mohamad in a virtual media meeting.

The first initiative is to implement a targeted RTK Antigen screening programme this month according to the locality of the Covid-19 transmission 'hotspot' based on the State Health Department (JKN) data analysis. This will help identify people who are positive but are asymptomatic and at risk of transmitting the infection so that early detection and treatment can be carried out.

According to him, the state government will also implement drive-through vaccinations and the state Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) has identified two locations for this initiative, namely Ipoh and Meru as the district has the highest population in Perak.

Through this initiative, the state government is confident it will be able to increase the estimated vaccination doses of between 800 to 1,500 a day, besides reducing congestion at the existing Vaccination Centres (PPVs). The drive-through PPVs will also be implemented in other districts in stages.

Next is the Covid-19 Vaccination Outreach Programme. The mobile vaccination team has started vaccination in nursing homes or special care homes, and will start house-to-house vaccination for the elderly and people with special needs. As of 1 June 2021, a total of 2,270 recipients have been vaccinated via this initiative. Subsequently, this programme will enter into the rural areas with the help of other agencies for logistic and movement assistance in the related area.

"Also, providing transportation to vaccine recipients. Realising that one of the reasons for vaccine recipients’ absence from appointments is the transportation factor to the PPVs, the state government has provided more than 80 types of vehicles which are able to ferry 1,000 people daily to the PPVs.

This initiative will facilitate and help alleviate the difficulties faced by the public, especially those with transportation difficulties and people with disabilities (OKU),” he said.

He added that the state government will also implement the purchase of vaccines by State Government-Linked Companies (GLCs).

“The state government welcomes the federal government's decision to allow Pharmaniaga to supply seven million doses of Sinovac vaccine to private sectors, government-linked companies (GLCs) and the state government.

“As such, the state government has asked the Perak State Development Corporation (PKNP) via its subsidiary Maju Perak Holdings Berhad to directly purchase vaccine supplies from Pharmaniaga. Through this initiative, any individual or company can obtain the vaccine for a fee for employees,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, the number of individuals registered as COVID-19 vaccine recipients via MySejahtera in Perak now stands at 889,680 or only 46% percent of the state’s 1.86 million population aged 18 and above. The Menteri Besar also appealed to the citizens from all walks of life not to delay in registering via MySejahtera in order to achieve the herd immunity target.

Source : Corporate, SUK Perak.