PETALING JAYA: The KL Sentral industry vaccination centre (PPV), which opened Monday (July 26), will be of great benefit to the 1,451 employees of Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB).

       "The industry PPV will also benefit KTMB’s subsidiaries - Multimodal Freight Sdn Bhd and KTM Distribution - as well as 390 employees of ERL and ERL Maintenance Support Sdn Bhd," said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.

       “They are largely frontline staff who have yet to receive their first vaccine dose.

       “The KTMB staff who would be vaccinated at this industry PPV are those stationed along its corridor from Tanjung Malim to Gemas.

       “KTMB will be transporting their staff from other stations on a special charter train to KL Sentral,” Dr Wee said in a statement.

       He added that the programme has been approved by the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) on July 19 and it is a joint initiative by the Transport Ministry (MOT) together with the Science, Technology, and Innovation Ministry (Mosti) and Health Ministry (MOH).

       A total of 40 KTMB and ERL employees will also work as volunteers to assist with crowd and queue control, logistics and registration.

       Dr Wee, who visited the industry PPV in KL Sentral on Monday (July 26), also said KTMB plans to set up more such facilities at other strategic locations for its staff in the northern and southern regions as well as the east coast.

       As of Sunday (July 25), four industry PPVs for the transport sector had started operating to support the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK).

       The first industry PPV at Port Klang for the maritime sector and the second one at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) for the aviation transport sector have benefited a total of 32,243 recipients.

       “Two more facilities for the land public transport sector were opened last week, at the Putra Heights LRT Station and Cheras Selatan Rapid Bus Complex on July 19 and July 21 respectively, involving 5,512 rail and bus service employees,” Dr Wee had said.

       MOT had submitted a list of 129,267 names from the taxi and e-hailing category and 73,394 p-hailing riders’ names for vaccination.

       "Based on the existing data as at Saturday (July 24), some 67% taxi and e-hailing drivers have received their vaccination or appointments, meanwhile 56.4% for p-hailing riders," the Minister added.

       The ministry is also in the process of obtaining approvals to open additional industry PPV for the transport sector in Johor, Penang, Pahang, Terengganu, Perak, and Selangor.

       Additional doses for Port Klang to expedite vaccinations for seafarers, port workers, and logistics sector employees are also being approved.

       This initiative is estimated to benefit more than 54,000 transport sector workers nationwide.