SELANGOR will soon roll out a vaccination programme targeted at the economic sectors to keep them from collapsing from the health impact of the coronavirus.

State Public Health, Unity, Women and Family Development committee chairman Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud said this was because the state could not wait for the federal government to get around to doing the job, especially as factories and offices would be the last to receive the shots under the national Immunisation programme.

“Selangor depends on the industries and factories to contribute almost 20% to Malaysia’s GDP.

“We cannot afford to have the economic frontlines collapse. We cannot wait for the federal government’s vaccine rollout as industries and factories will be the last to get the vaccines. This could cause many of the factories to close due to Covid-19,” she said, adding that the state’s programme will complement the national inoculation effort

She said Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari would submit by next week the mechanics of the programme, including the vaccine brands that would be used.

Called SelangkahVAX, the programme is coordinated by Selgate Corporation, a subsidiary of Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor (PKNS).

Siti Mariah said employers could register their workers now for the jabs via the Selangkah app or at https://vax.selangkah.my/

The scheme also targets marginalised groups such as residents of care homes, dialysis patients and refugees.

“If we don’t give attention to these groups, the vaccination effort will fail and we won’t achieve 80% herd immunity,” she said.

She said the vaccines that the state would procure were approved for use by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency.

“NPRA has approved the use of Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines, and we will use the same.

“There is no issue of (Selangor taking the federal government’s share of the vaccines) because we will only be getting our supply of vaccines after the producers have fulfilled the federal government’s orders.”

Siti Mariah said so far a million workers in Selangor had signed up for the shots. – May 19, 2021.