TANJONG KARANG: The Public-Private Partnership Industrial Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (Pikas), which initially covered workers in key sectors in four states, will be extended nationwide next month, says Khairy Jamaluddin.
The coordinating minister of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme said a decision would be made in the “next two or three days”.
“I am finalising the amount of doses to be allocated under this programme,” he told reporters after opening a vaccination centre at Dewan Tan Sri Noh Omar here yesterday.
Khairy gave his assurance that the doses allocated for the programme would not affect the vaccination process under the overall national programme.
He said the pilot project for Pikas had gone smoothly with the International Trade and Industry Ministry managing it well.
“So, we will be expanding this in July to several states.
“Eventually, all states will have their own Pikas PPV (vaccination centres),” he said.
The Pikas programme would also be extended to employees from the construction industry next month, he added.
Pikas was launched on June 16 as an effort to vaccinate some 150,000 workers in the critical manufacturing sub-sectors in four states: Selangor, Johor, Penang and Sarawak.
On June 25, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Azmin Ali had said that a total of 2,082 companies nationwide with 301,050 workers had applied to participate in Pikas.
Meanwhile, Khairy said the opening of the Tanjong Karang vaccination centre would make it more accessible for those living in the area to get their jabs without needing to travel far.
“Prior to this, they had to travel to Kuala Selangor or Puncak Alam to receive their vaccine,” he said, adding that the centre would begin administering 500 vaccines a day before increasing this to the maximum 1,000 shots daily.
Tanjong Karang MP Tan Sri Noh Omar, who was also present at the event, said the centre would cater to some 35,000 residents who had registered for vaccination.