COVID-19 vaccine: Police ready to provide security - Acryl Sani

KUALA LUMPUR:The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) will provide security escort during the transportation, distribution, transfer, and storage of the COVID-19 vaccine, which is expected to arrive in the country this Sunday.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Datuk Seri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said directives had been issued to all police commissioners, state police chiefs, and district police chiefs to provide assistance to the Health Ministry to facilitate the COVID-19 vaccine management, adding that the police would work round-the-clock to ensure its safety.

“PDRM will ensure the safety of the vaccine from the day it arrives (in the country) until it is distributed to the recipients,” he told Bernama yesterday.

Acryl Sani said matters related to ensuring the vaccine security would comply with the standard operating procedures (SOP) specially created for security control, the same SOP the police follow when providing security escort, among others.

Bernama reported yesterday that a total of 312,390 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine will be flown in on Feb 21, as the first shipment to Malaysia, while the implementation of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme would be launched in phases on Feb 26.

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was reported as saying that he would receive the vaccine on the first day of the programme implementation, together with the frontliners.

-- BERNAMA