KHAIRY Jamaluddin has said a public private sector Covid-19 vaccination drive will only commence when there is sufficient vaccine supply, amid claims in social media that there is a parallel programme to the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP).

Replying via Twitter, the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) coordinating minister said that the programme, called Public Private Partnership (PPP) Immunisation Model, specially designed for manufacturing and related services, will be an on-site vaccination programme and will begin in phase three, when enough vaccines are procured. 

He also said that the registration for the programme was just an expression of interest and affirmed it has not begun yet. 

“(Referring to the Vaccination Programme for Manufacturing and Related Services), this programme will only commence when there are enough vaccines for the general public in phase three and NOT when vaccines are in short supply. 

“If you look closely, it is just for expression of interest. This has not started,” the science, technology and innovation minister said in a tweet.

Recently, the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers announced that two Covid-9 vaccination models will be introduced for those in the manufacturing sector and related services.

It said both programmes were agreed upon following consultation between the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) and trade associations and chambers on Monday (April 26).

Besides the PPP model, the other is the Private Immunisation Model (Special Request) for Business Travellers.

The PPP model is targeted at local and foreign workers from manufacturing and related services sectors, based on a minimum threshold of 1,500 employees.

In another tweet thread, Khairy explained the programme was introduced to enable NIP to offer vaccinations at large industrial sites and factories. 

He said this would not require workers to come to Vaccine Dispensing Centres (PPV) to get their jabs.

“The reason this programme exists is for NIP to offer vaccinations at big industrial sites/factories. This will prevent factory workers from having to come to PPVs and for vaccinations to be done in situ,” he said, while reiterating that the programme will only start when there are enough vaccines in phase three.

Several people started sharing tweets of the programme today and demanded an answer. 

User @jimiecheng shared a post questioning if there was another vaccination programme running in parallel with NIP.

In the post, there was a photo of another user who claimed that staff at Genting and The Mines Resort, including her friends had received their vaccinations.

The post was retweeted by Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil, who demanded an explanation from Khairy, Senior Minister cum International Trade and Industry Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali, Health Minister Adham Baba and even the National Security Council (NSC). 

Regarding this, Khairy said that he had checked with the Petaling District Health Office and Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory Health Department (JKWPKL) and claimed that there were no special vaccination programmes conducted. 

“I have checked with the Pejabat Kesihatan Daerah Petaling as well as JKWPKL, there is no special vaccination programme for the staff of Mines Resort,” he said, adding that he is still waiting for specific details on the claim that a friend got vaccinated. 

Besides this, after Khairy had come with an explanation on the vaccination programme for the manufacturing and related services, Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming tweeted saying he would reach out to smaller factories to combine resources and workers to roll the PPP program out at industrial areas in his constituency.

The tweet was greeted with a positive response from Khairy, who thanked the DAP lawmaker and said it is important to vaccinate the industrial sectors because they contributed to a number of Covid-19 clusters.

“Thanks, YB. This will be an important initiative in phase three as factories are a huge source of Covid clusters,” he said. – May 7, 2021.