Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow greets members of the public during a visit to the Covid-19 vaccination centre at the Spice Arena, Bayan Baru June 6, 2021. —Picture by Sayuti Zainudin
GEORGE TOWN, July 13 — Penang has started rolling out the third phase of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP), said Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.
The Penang lawmaker said the state’s Covid-19 vaccination centres (PPV) have a combined capacity to dispense 20,000 doses per day.
“The state Health Department together with the Covid-19 Immunisation Taskforce will need to work together in ensuring that the PPVs in Penang reach their maximum capacity of dispensing a total of 20,000 doses daily,” he said.
Chow said the capacity of the PPVs in Penang must be optimised to ensure that the state reaches its objective of at least 40 per cent of the population having received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
The third phase of the NIP is for those who are aged 18 years and above.
“We need to achieve the 40 per cent rate of two doses being given so that we can transition to Phase Three of the National Recovery Plan by August,” he said.
To ensure that the state reaches its target of transitioning to Phase Three, Chow called on all to ensure that the state achieves two other indicators to transition to Phase Three.
The indicators are to keep the average daily cases in Penang low and the public healthcare system is at a satisfactory level, with the rate of bed usage in ICU dropping to an adequate level.
He said the Penang police chief has also given his commitment to take stern action against factories that have falsified information to continue operations during the current movement control order (MCO) period.