MoF facilitating allocation, procurement for PICK

KUALA LUMPUR: Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz and Treasury Secretary-General Datuk Asri Hamidon, as well as the top management of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) today attended the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) procedural meeting on the COVID-19 Vaccine Procurement.

The MoF, in a statement, said Tengku Zafrul explained the MoF's role in preparing procurement and allocation procedures to facilitate and expedite the implementation of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) to achieve the objective of complete immunisation for Malaysians by October 2021.

It said among the measures taken was to devolve power to the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) to finalise the procurement of vaccines at the respective ministry levels.

"Besides, the MoF also increased the allocation for vaccine and PICK procurement from RM3 billion (the commitment was announced at end-2020) to RM5.8 billion as announced through the PEMULIH package in June 2021.

"The MoH and MOSTI have also been given flexibility to manage the allocation expenditure in connection with the implementation of PICK, subject to the RM5.8 billion allocation ceiling approved by the MoF," the statement said.

The MoF is also committed to continue playing its role in the success of PICK's efforts to achieve full vaccination of the adult population and further enable the reopening of the economy and social activities in phases under the National Recovery Plan.

-- BERNAMA