KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 — The Public-Private Partnership Industrial COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PIKAS), aimed at ramping up vaccination for the manufacturing sector, will be launched today.
The PIKAS programme, announced on June 12, 2021, will be launched today in Selangor to be witnessed by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin accompanied by Senior Minister and Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.
Mohamed Azmin said workers participating in the programme would not be burdened with additional cost.
“The vaccines are free and the employers will bear the administrative cost of the vaccination and would not be allowed to deduct from employees’ salaries,” he said in a statement.
He added that government would ramp up vaccination in June, July and August with the target of reaching herd immunity according to the exit strategy as outlined in the National Recovery Plan announced yesterday.
The International Trade and Industry Ministry said apart from Selangor, vaccination for the manufacturing sector would also be initiated in Penang and Johor simultaneously with the focus being on critical manufacturing sub-sectors.
These sub-sectors are critical during the lockdown as they are part of the supply chain of essential products and services including to support the smooth functioning of infrastructures such as the public health care system.
“The PIKAS programme is implemented in response to calls from industry associations, business chambers of commerce and small and medium enterprises to help accelerate vaccination for the people, particularly employees, to achieve herd immunity in the community.
“This is imperative to protect workers against COVID-19 and reduce the number of workplace clusters as well as stop the transmission of infection among workers and the implementation of PIKAS is crucial to safeguard workers as they constitute a critical component of the economic sector, which is the backbone to ensuring the economy recovers and to remain resilient,” the ministry said.
Sources: BERNAMA