GEORGE TOWN: Penang is expected to get the Covid-19 vaccine at the end of next month, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said today.
The state Health Department, he said, was in the midst of studying the vaccination plan, especially in terms of logistics.
"We have been told to expect the arrival of the vaccine at the end of February," he said after chairing the state special security committee meeting on the management of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chow said some 100 private clinics under the Penang Medical Practitioners' Society (PMPS) prepared to provide Covid-19 vaccine injections for free to all the people in the state.
The federal government recently announced that registration for Covid-19 vaccination for Malaysians would be opened soon.
Malaysia is scheduled to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the end of next month and the country has received conditional approval from the Health Ministry's National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA).
Chow said another matter raised in today's meeting was Penang's role in reactivating committees and working groups at all levels to improve enforcement at high risk or hotspot areas in efforts to fight the pandemic.
"Under the Emergency Ordinance, the state Health Department and the team on the ground can continue with initiatives to identify asset needs, including from private sources, before bringing it to the higher level for further action.
"The meeting also received more detailed sharing of information from the state Health Department, focusing on infectious cases in localities which will be used for further planning at the technical committee level.
"Also presented was the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the management of Covid-19 cases in residential areas involving Category 1 and Category 2 patients which are being monitored by the Covid-19 Assessment Center (CAC)," he added.
Chow said the cooperation from all quarters were vital in ensuring the success of future plans to be implemented as the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic continued.
Yesterday, Penang reported 124 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the cumulative confirmed infections to 6,540.