by TMR / pic by TMR FILE

THE Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) have been requested to increase another seven vaccination centres (PPVs) in Johor to increase the vaccination rate in the state.

To date, there are 13 PPVs in Johor.

Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba (picture) said he hopes for these PPVs to be realised by the end of September.

“This is in line with the commitment that we have an outreach programme to speed up the process of vaccination in states that will face the monsoon season including Johor,” he said in a statement yesterday.

“When the number of mobile PPVs is increased to 20, I believe more people especially in the rural areas will get the vaccine injection soon,” he added.

As of Sept 4, a total of 175,360 people in Johor have received the jab in 13 mobile PPVs and from outreach programmes.

Of that number, a total of 89,263 have received the first dose and 86,097 were fully vaccinated.

A total of 261,457 doses were given in 13 mobile PPVs and from outreach programmes. For the record, there are 364 different types of PPVs in Johor.

According to Dr Adham, in September 2021, Johor will be the second state to receive the largest number of vaccines at 1.98 million; 1.82 million doses of Pfizer, 100,000 doses of Sinovac, 40,000 from AstraZeneca and 22,000 from CanSino.

As of Sept 4, a total of 36.1 million doses have been given throughout Malaysia where 20.4 million individuals have received at least one dose, while another 15.77 million or 67.4% of the adult population were completely vaccinated. So far, 83.1% of the adult population in Johor had received the first dose and 52.6% have completed their vaccinations.

The average daily vaccination rate in Johor over the past seven days was 59,683 doses, the minister said.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported Dr Adham as saying that individuals who have completed two doses of vaccine abroad need to go to the nearest district health office (PKD) for verification and validation to obtain a digital vaccination certificate on MySejahtera application.

“After getting confirmation from PKD, the state health department will send (information and data) to the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre in Putrajaya. The centre will then inform MySejahtera to update and issue a digital certificate in the application.

“Regardless of the nationality, most importantly, we want to confirm whether the vaccination certificate issued abroad was genuine or not, and to find out the type of vaccine received,” he told reporters after visiting the vaccination centre at the Austin International Convention Centre yesterday.

For the individuals who have been vaccinated and were required to enter Malaysia, they would have their vaccination certificate checked and validated by health officials at the country’s entry points.