In a statement, the ministry said this involved those working at night markets, farmers’ markets, morning markets, wet markets and others who are registered with their local authorities.

It said the programme, which was in collaboration with the national unity ministry, will focus on areas with low vaccination rates and high number of infections.

“Selangor has been chosen as the first destination because it has the highest number of cases and has yet to show a potential decline in cases at this time.

“As such, the ministry has targeted to administer vaccines to 49,084 individuals from the hawker group in this state,” it said.

The ministry said the initiative was to help petty traders register with their local authorities to receive the vaccine and continue doing business under the movement control order period.

It said this would help reduce the risk of infection for hawkers, due to their jobs which involve meeting different people every day.