Industries not registered under PIKAS urged to do so immediately

KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) has urged industries that have not registered for the Public-Private Partnership Industrial COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PIKAS) to do so as soon as possible to achieve the herd immunity level in the country.

In a statement on social media today, Senior Minister cum MITI Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said his ministry has introduced PIKAS specifically for workers in the manufacturing sector, beginning June 16.

"Looking at the data from the Ministry of Health (MOH), I understand that most of the new clusters are from workplaces," he said.

Hence, the government through MITI had implemented PIKAS to avoid the virus infections from increasing among workers particularly in the manufacturing subsectors.

"I understand, (there) maybe questions as to why some sectors are allowed to operate while the country is under the total lockdown order.

"The decision to allow the manufacturing sector to open is because part of the supply chain of products and services are necessary to support the smooth function of infrastructure such as public healthcare," he said.

Nevertheless, he said for companies that operate without approval from MITI, the ministry would not hesitate to issue compound for violation of the standard operating procedures (SOP) that have been prescribed.

For PIKAS, Mohamed Azmin said MITI had targeted a total of two million workers in the manufacturing sector to achieve herd immunity, latest by this September.

"To realise this aim, it depends on the vaccine supply including workforce in terms of number of doctors and healthcare team placed at the PIKAS vaccination centres.

"The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and MOH have also given the assurance that we will get more vaccine doses in August. If this can be implemented, the faster we will return to normal life, but under the new normal," he said.

-- BERNAMA