All eligible Penangites expected to get booster shots by Feb: Chow

GEORGE TOWN – The Penang government expects the state’s eligible population to be fully inoculated with booster shots against Covid-19 by the end of February. 

Speaking during a press conference, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said that even with delays due to festive seasons, the state will have 100% of the population “boosted” by the first week of March. 

There are currently more than 100 clinics administering booster doses for those who have already been given the basic vaccination, he said.

There are also seven public hospitals and more district health offices, as well as offsite vaccination centres administering the jabs for those with appointments and walk-ins.

The state currently has the capacity to administer 8,000 booster shots daily.

“This time (the vaccination drive) is not similar to when we were organising the first and second-dose vaccinations because we did not have enough vaccines then. Now there is no such issue.

“I hope that the number of vaccination centres and clinics will increase. There have been requests from certain locations and we hope that the state Health Department can conduct outreach to these areas to meet needs there,” he said.

According to the latest data provided by the Health Ministry’s CovidNow website, 572,730 people have received their booster doses, making up 32.3% of the state’s population. 

Meanwhile, Chow also confirmed that there have been no new Omicron cases since ten cases were reported on Monday.

However, he sought to impress on the Health Department and other related agencies that cases will possibly rise because of the new variant, and that Penang will be prepared.

“Seeing that many of the assets have been demobilised following the reduction of cases, being prepared and on guard means that we will monitor the situation.

“If it comes to the point that we need remobilisation, all of the assets can be initiated immediately,” he said.

Chow was informed by the department on Monday that there were 10 Omicron cases from imported infections. These comprised eight individuals who had returned from Saudi Arabia after performing the umrah and two from Dubai. – The Vibes, January 14, 2021