Allocation for National Immunisation Programme raised to RM5b

Saturday 27 Apr 2024

KUALA LUMPUR (March 17): The Government has announced an RM2 billion increase in its allocation for the National Immunisation Programme to RM5 billion, as part of the RM20 billion PEMERKASA package unweiled today.

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the Government hopes to accelerate the achievement of herd immunity among the people by December 2021, versus the previous projection of 1Q2022.

“To achieve this target, 15,000 officers will be stationed in 950 vaccination centres throughout the country.

“Considering the increase in workload, the Government has agreed to a Covid-19 special assistance at a rate of RM200 per month to be extended to civil servants who are involved in carrying out the immunisation programme,” he said in a televised speech.

Meanwhile, he said that with the implementation of the immunisation programme, Putrajaya may not need to enforce a nationwide or statewide Movement Control Order anymore, but instead only have movement restrictions in affected localities and clusters.

To protect employees and workers, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) will launch the voluntary Safe@Work initiative, which will require employers to provide conducive workplaces and accommodation for their respective workers.

Employers that participate in this programme will be allowed to operate in a way whereby its close-contact workers will be isolated from the local community and other workers, by placing them in a “safe work bubble” until all close-contact workers are verified to be Covid-19-free.

“To encourage employers to participate in this voluntary programme, the Government has agreed to provide additional tax deductions to manufacturing and manufacturing-related service companies on the rental expenses of employees’ premises and hostels.

“Expenditures eligible for this additional tax deduction is limited to RM50,000 for each MITI-registered company that passes the Safe@Work compliance audit,” said Muhyiddin, adding that registrations will be open from April 1 onwards.

Besides that, employers that undertake Covid-19 testing for their employees will also be given tax deductions for testing expenses incurred up to Dec 31, 2021.

Edited ByS Kanagaraju

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