BUKIT MERTAJAM – The Health Ministry’s (MoH) refusal to classify council workers as frontliners has resulted in 18 Seberang Prai City Council (MBSP) staff contracting Covid-19 and only 40% of them being fully immunised.
Malaysia began its Covid-19 immunisation programme in February 2021 starting with frontliners especially those in the healthcare sector as its priority group.
However, pleas for council workers to be classified as frontliners since last year have yet to gain the MoH’s acceptance.
This has led MBSP to confine some 1,500 of its workers to their offices as they have yet to be vaccinated.
At a media briefing, MBSP Mayor Datuk Rozali Mohamud said that the slow vaccination rate has impaired the council from delivering their best during the pandemic.
Besides, there are several MBSP staff who are influenced by the anti-vaccination narrative which has become quite dominant on social media.
Present was state housing, local government and town and country planning committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo
Rozali said the disbelievers will be sent for counselling so that they can obtain the right information about the vaccine.
He urged the health authorities to expedite the vaccination for MBSP staff, as their role includes helping the state curb the spread of Covid-19.
Jagdeep who oversees the mass testing exercise said that less than 5% out of the 10,000 people tested have been confirmed as being Covid-19 positive.
Penang has targeted for more than 40,000 people to be tested for free, as part of the state's initiative to assist the MoH in its battle against the pandemic.
Meanwhile, doctors in Penang are seeking more disclosure of information on where the high rate of infections are coming from.
There is a sense of confusion here except a realisation that the infections are now in the community with many sporadic cases mushrooming.
“But there is a need to isolate the areas of infections to make contract tracing effective,” said Penang Hospital doctors.
Yesterday, it was reported that 200 out of the 600 fresh infections detected were foreign workers. – The Vibes, July 28, 2021
