by BERNAMA / Pic by BLOOMBERG

IPOH – The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine destined for Perak under the first phase of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme will be shipped out from Penang under tight security this Wednesday.

Perak police chief Datuk Mior Faridalathrash Wahid said preparations have been made to provide security escort during the delivery of the vaccine from Bayan Lepas, Penang to the four vaccine storage centres in the state.

“The Ministry of Health (MOH) has announced that there are four vaccine storage centres in Perak, namely the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital here, Teluk Intan Hospital, Taiping Hospital and the Armed Forces Hospital in Lumut,” he said.

He said this to reporters after monitoring the compliance of the standard operating procedure on the first day of the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examinations at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Anderson here today.

Mior Faridalathrash said the date for the first phase of immunisation shots to frontliners, including 10,924 Perak police personnel, will be announced soon by the MOH.

He added that the police have registered the names of all the Perak contingent police and personnel for the COVID-19 shots.

On whether there were any police personnel who refused to be vaccinated, Mior Faridalathrash said there has been no problems so far and every recipient will be given a consent form by the MOH.

“It is understood that around 33,000 frontliners will be among the first to be vaccinated while the rest may be given during the second and third phase,” he said.

Yesterday, state Health, Environmental Science and Green Technology committee chairman Mohd Akmal Kamaruddin was reported to have said that Perak is expecting to receive 79,560 COVID-19 vaccine doses under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme.

In SHAH ALAM, Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said two to five million COVID-19 vaccine doses procured by the state on its own are expected to arrive this May or June.

He said the actual purchase amount of vaccines has yet to be decided as it involved a large quantity and high costs.

“If all goes well, we expect to receive the vaccine as early as May or June, and of course, the distribution, which will be done by the state government, is to speed up the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme,” he said after launching the Preventing Outbreak at Ignition Sites (POIS) programme here today.

It was previously reported that the state government planned to buy three to five million COVID-19 vaccine doses as an effort to control the spread of COVID-19, especially for people in Selangor including foreign workers.

In another development, Amirudin said the state government would meet with Coordinating Minister for National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme Khairy Jamaluddin to discuss the status of supply and distribution of the first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for the state that arrived yesterday.

In MELAKA, the state is also due to receive 10,000 Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine doses this Wednesday, before being administered to frontliners beginning Feb 28, under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme.

State Health and Anti-Drug committee chairman Datuk Rahmad Mariman said the vaccine shots will be provided at three hospitals and 33 health clinics in the state, as well as at Dewan Tun Ali here.

“Among the suggested first individuals to receive the vaccine shots are Melaka Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Dr Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam, followed by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali and the state executive councillors and approval will be sought as soon as possible.

“From February to April, it will involve frontliners while for the next group of recipients, including the public, it will be done in stages from May until the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme is completed in January next year,” he said told a press conference here today.

Meanwhile, he said the Melaka state government is planning to open a private COVID-19 quarantine and treatment centre in the state at Kobemas Hotel, Ayer Keroh to house foreign workers or locals from the industrial sector who have tested positive for COVID-19.

Rahmad said the hotel management and employers are still negotiating over a couple of details and the centre is expected to be opened soon to cater to the needs of workplace cluster cases, especially from the industrial sector.

He added that the hotel is capable of accommodating about 150 COVID-19 patients and the costs will be borne entirely by the employers.

“The MOH, through the National Security Council special meeting, has approved for states to establish private centres and the implementation guidelines have been issued. The daily ceiling price set is RM350,” he said.

Rahmad also said that the state government is only involved in the monitoring aspect to ensure that the private centre complies with the standard operating procedure.