MB: Perak could enter Phase Three of National Recovery Plan by end Aug if 40pc residents vaccinated

IPOH, July 28 — Perak could move into the Third Phase of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) by the end of August.

Mentri Besar Datuk Saarani Mohamad said that the state hopes to administer the second dose of Covid-19 vaccines to 40 per cent of its population by then, which is among the conditions set by the National Security Council (NSC) for a state to move to the Third Phase.

“Perak aims to reach the 40 per cent vaccination threshold by the end of August or by the first week of September.

“However, this projection is subject to the supply of vaccines that will be received for August and September,” he said.

Previously, Saarani had said that the only thing stopping the state from moving into Phase Three of the NRP is the vaccination percentage.

At the moment, Saarani explained that a total of 683,332 people, which is 36.69 per cent of those aged 18 and above of the state population, have received their first vaccine dose, while 378,851 of the population, or 20.34 per cent, have been fully vaccinated.

He pointed out that the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) in Perak, which began on February 24, had set out to vaccinate 80 per cent of the state’s 1,862,600 residents aged 18 and above, which is 1,490,080 people, in order to achieve herd immunity.

“As of July 26, a total of 1,450,358 or 77.9 per cent of the state population aged 18 and above have registered for the vaccination,” he said.

He also urged those who have registered to be patient as they will get their vaccination appointments soon.

“We have to make sure we have a sufficient supply of vaccines before calling them. If we call them but don’t have any vaccines, then we will be blamed.

“It depends on the vaccine supply. So people have to be patient. We also want to expedite the vaccination process so that everyone in the state can feel safe,” he added.

Saarani also said that Perak has received a total 1,191,789 doses of three vaccines, namely Pfizer, Sinovac and AstraZeneca as of July 26.

“The vaccine supply scheduled for July is 688,760 doses.

“From July 1 to 26, the supply of vaccines received by the state was 438,191 doses.

“Meanwhile, the balance of 250,569 doses should be received in the last week of July,” he said.

He added the state can administer a total of 35,000 vaccine doses daily with the available facilities.

“We have 22 public vaccination centres, 89 medical practitioner vaccination centres, 13 private hospitals vaccination centres, 11 mobile vaccination centres, seven special vaccination centres and six industrial vaccination centres in the state,” he said.

When asked whether any hospitals in Perak will be converted into a full Covid-19 facility following the recent slight increase in Covid-19 cases in the state, Saarani replied that “there is no need for that”.

“There are still enough beds in intensive care units for Covid-19 patients in hospitals around the state,” he said.

Separately, Saarani also said Perak will not be accepting walk-in vaccinations for foreign workers from August 1 as practised in the Klang Valley, adding that industrial workers here will be inoculated under the Public-Private Partnership Covid-19 Industry Immunisation Programme (Pikas).