Johor MB: RM40m allocated to purchase Covid-19 vaccine

 

Johor has allocated RM40 million for the purchase of the Covid-19 vaccine to enable the people in the state to get vaccinated, said Menteri Besar Hasni Mohammad.

He said this allocation under the Johor Ihsan Economic Stimulus Package 3.0 had been proposed earlier with the cooperation of Kumpulan Perubatan Johor (KPJ).

“The initiative will enable KPJ to sell the vaccine to those needing it. In total, the state government has allocated RM75 million to implement four initiatives to boost the management of the pandemic including the purchase of vaccine," Hasni (above) said when announcing the package through his official Facebook page and Makmur Johor Facebook page today.

He added that the state government would also be purchasing 190,000 RTS-antigen test kits to support the targeted screening effort, with the initiative to be carried out with the Management Services Division of the State Secretary’s Office and Johor State Health Department.

The targeted screening is also supported by the Johor Bahru City Council, Iskandar Puteri City Council and Pasir Gudang City Council which will be buying the test kits to benefit almost 60,000 people.

Besides that, RM20 million will be used for the operations of the vaccine administering centres (PPV) and roadblocks, and for the welfare of the frontliners covering their allowances and provision of food and equipment, which will continue until this December.

Meanwhile, Hasni said the state government would be setting up the Johor Covid-19 Advisory Committee in dealing with new challenges, post-Covid-19.

He said the committee would be headed by the former dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman, who is also an adjunct professor at Yale University, United States.

“This committee will further strengthen the state government’s actions and managing of the pandemic using science, technology and data which we believe are the main ingredients in ensuring the effectiveness of the fight against Covid-19,” he added.

Hasni earlier announced an allocation of RM241 million for the stimulus package, the biggest allocation ever by the state government to help people impacted by the pandemic.

Before this, the state government had implemented the Ihsan Johor Economic Stimulus Package 1.0 with an allocation of RM167.33 million and then the 2.0 package involving an allocation of RM109.48 million.

- Bernama