Works minister Fadillah Yusof said based on the latest record, there were almost one million construction personnel registered with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), of which 70% were locals and 30% were foreigners.
Fadillah said the ministry was actively carrying out the immunisation process for workers in the sector through the Construction Industry Vaccination Programme (CIVac) under CIDB, a collaborative effort by the government and the private sector to expedite inoculation for the group.
“For a start, the CIVac programme has allocated 80,000 doses of vaccine for 40,000 construction personnel in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Selangor through the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV),” he said.
He was speaking to reporters after observing the vaccination process for the CIVac programme at the CIDB Convention Centre which kicked off today. Also present was National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
Fadillah said CIDB had opened the vaccine registration for all construction personnel in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya on June 21 and all slots were fully booked in less than 24 hours, which showed that industry players were very concerned and prepared to ensure their workers are vaccinated.
Following the positive response to the CIVac programme, Fadillah said the ministry would request an additional 200,000 doses of vaccine from JKJAV for the second phase of the programme which involves 100,000 construction personnel in Penang, Johor and Pahang.
He added that the vaccination centre for the CIVac programme in Selangor would be opened at the Panasonic Sports Complex, Shah Alam on July 14.
As for Sabah and Sarawak, the ministry was conducting a study and looking at the preparedness of both states before the programme is expanded there, he said.
To facilitate industry players, Fadillah said the ministry together with CIDB would also present a proposal to the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) to conduct vaccination at construction sites or workers’ accommodation.
Under the CIVac programme, the private sector is required to prepare and fund their own qualified medical team and vaccination centre, while the vaccine will be supplied and delivered to them free of charge by the government.
Meanwhile, Khairy said that CITF has given its approval for the plantation and commodity sector to be the fourth sector involved in the industrial vaccination programme, in addition to the construction, transportation and manufacturing sectors approved earlier.
“We are also looking into the proposals from other sectors, such as retail and tourism, to be included based on priority to operate according to the phases of the National Recovery Plan,” he added.
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