Khairy: New Malacca Encore PPV to open seven days a week

 

The newly set up Encore vaccination centre in Kota Syahbandar, Malacca, will be operating seven days a week beginning from yesterday, according to National Immunisation Programme (NIP) Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

It was previously reported that the Encore PPV will have the capacity to administer 1,000 doses of vaccines a day.

The science, technology and innovations minister said from March until earlier this month, the PPVs in Malacca had enough supply to operate six days a week.

"That was optimum capacity for the usage of their PPVs.

"Malacca PPVs have achieved 93 percent to 95 percent vaccine utilisation and are looking at the possibility to operate seven days a week by end of this month," Khairy said during an online press conference with Health Minister Dr Adham Baba today.

"We are looking at the distribution of vaccines to states like Malacca where we are seeing an increase in case incidents rate," he said.

Malaysiakini yesterday reported that Malacca Covid-19 vaccination centres are still largely not operating on Sundays, in sharp contrast to the reports of a severe shortage of beds at the Malacca Hospital due to a rise in Covid-19 infections.

Over the past two Sundays this month, Malacca only dispensed 30 first doses of the vaccines, data published by the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) showed.

Up to July 13, 30.1 percent of adults in Malacca have received their first dose, while 15 percent have received both doses.

'New volunteers at IDCC to be vaccinated'

Meanwhile, Khairy said new volunteers at the Ideal Convention Centre (IDCC) in Shah Alam will be vaccinated if they have yet to do so, following the discovery of a cluster involving over 200 staff.

He said those yet to be vaccinated could be among new recruits coordinated by the Youth and Sports Ministry.

"On the IDCC, most of our volunteers are vaccinated, but on any given day, you will have new rotations, largely the volunteers that are coordinated by the youth and sports ministry, who are reporting for the first time.

"The policy is to get them vaccinated as quickly as possible using the spare capacity or spare doses," said Khairy.

"So, I have instructed PPVs to ensure that new rotations of volunteers are vaccinated as quickly as possible," he added.

Khairy previously ordered for the mass testing of IDCC staff after two volunteers contracted the virus, although it was not determined whether infections occurred at the facility. - Mkini