COVID: Selangor approves Penang's request to borrow 200,000 doses of vaccine

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government announced that Selangor has agreed to lend Penang 200,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine in order to vaccinate the remaining unvaccinated Penangites.

State Health, Agriculture, Agro-based Industry and Rural Development Committee chairman, Dr Norlela Ariffin expressed her gratitude to Selangpr Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari, Selangor health exco Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud and SelCare clinic for approval and delivery of the vaccine.

"We hope that all Penangites will receive their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine by the first week of September.

"As of today, 225,226 Penangites have yet to receive the first vaccine shot, with the majority of the unvaccinated population located in the Seberang Perai Tengah (SPT) district.

"The SPT district, which is the epicentre of the spike in COVID-19 cases in Penang, has 76,000 people yet to receive the first dose and another 75,000 to 80,000 workers in small factories that have registered with PIKAS (Public-Private Partnership Industrial COVID-19 Immunisation Programme) under MITI (International Trade and Industry Ministry) have not been vaccinated either," she said.

Based on an analysis by mathematician Dr David Benjamin Lim, a Ph.D holder from Stanford University, Norlela said that factories and other workplaces had contributed 70 per cent of COVID-19 infections and R naught in Penang since the Movement Control Order (MCO) 3.0.

She proposed the setting up of private COVID-19 Quarantine and Low-Risk Treatment Centres (PKRC), to be monitored by general practitioners and with home and surveillance observations to reduce the State Health Department's burden.

"Having private PKRCs to quarantine the patients, especially factory workers in the SPT district, will help reduce the spread of COVID-19 to the community and the R naught in Penang," she said.

-- BERNAMA