ALOR GAJAH, Aug 2 ― Approximately 8,000 workers in the retail sector in Melaka are expected to get vaccinated against Covid-19 through the Retail Industry Vaccination (Rivac) programme starting in the middle of this month.

State Unity, Community Relations, Manpower and Consumer Affairs Committee chairman Datuk Ismail Othman said the Covid-19 vaccination programme under the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs’s initiative would be held at the Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall here.

"The implementation of the RIVac programme is aimed at complementing the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme to mitigate Covid infection and to ensure that the workers in the retail sector could get vaccinated as soon as possible so as to create a safer working environment for them.”

He said this after observing the Covid-19 Vaccination Outreach Programme at Ayer Limau state constituency held with cooperation from the Ministry of Health and the National Unity Department in Lubok China here today.

Elaborating, he said the vaccine recipients under the Rivac programme would comprise all hypermarket/supermarket workers, cashiers, management teams, security guards and also cleaners.

Meanwhile, Ismail said the implementation of the Community Vaccine Mobilisation (Movak) programme in Melaka has been intensified especially in the rural areas to ensure that the people, senior citizens and those who do not have smartphones or access to the Internet, in particular, would not be left behind.

For the first phase, he said Movak programme was implemented in Kuala Sungai Baru, Kuala Linggi, Machap, Selandar, Asahan and Ayer Limau before it proceeded to the second phase involving other areas such as Rim and Sungai Rambai.

So far, 3,000 people had received the vaccine under Movak which was implemented with the cooperation from the Ministry of National Unity and the Ministry of Housing and Local Government. ― Bernama