Banking, O&G, aviation to reap benefits from National Immunisation Programme - Economist

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the commencement of the immunisation programme is likely to revive business confidence in the country and consequently propel economic growth with more movement restrictions expected to be relaxed.

“As travel may pick up post-vaccination, provided that the vaccines are effective, airlines will ramp up its flight capacities which will then lead to higher jet fuel consumption that bides well for the O&G sector,” he told Bernama.

On the other hand, Adam said the glove sector may face some backlash as investors may perceive that rubber gloves are not so much needed compared to the early days of the pandemic.

“The thriving glove manufacturers may be impacted and experience a tapering of demand as sentiment across the public sphere shows that they are sceptical on demand, moving forward post-vaccination.

“However demand could still be sustained later on amid improved awareness on hygiene practice in many parts of the world,” said Adam.

On the notion that logistics companies are slated to also benefit from the NIP spillover effect, Adam is of the opinion that there is bound to be some vaccine logistics hiccups.

“Vaccines need to be stored in a temperature-regulated environment and not many warehouse providers have this capability, therefore there could be a hiccup in distributing and storing vaccines,” said Adam.

Adam also suggests that logistics companies should expand their business offerings to cater to the distribution and storing of vaccines as it will be in high demand when the vaccines roll out.

Malaysia is set to roll out on Feb 26 the biggest vaccination exercise it has ever undertaken in an effort to immunise the people against COVID-19.

The first shipment of vaccine is scheduled to be delivered five days earlier, on Feb 21.

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin will take the lead in getting vaccinated on Feb 26, along with the frontliners, under the NIP that is scheduled to stretch to February next year.

He disclosed details of the exercise when he launched a handbook on Tuesday on the immunisation programme that has applied the whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches.

The handbook, which carries the tagline Lindung Diri, Lindung Semua (Protect Oneself, Protect Everyone), can be downloaded from www.vaksincovid.gov.my.

The handbook provides details of the immunisation programme and will serve as a source of reference for policy makers and implementers as well as the people, he said, adding that it has been brought out ahead of the first delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine to Malaysia.

According to reports, for Malaysia’s Pfizer vaccine order, the first batch of one million doses (for 500,000 people, at two doses each) is slated to arrive by end-February, with a further 1.7 million doses in the second quarter (2Q21), 5.8 million doses in 3Q21, and 4.3 million doses in 4Q21.