SDP'S THIRD PPVIN TO VACCINATE 6,500 PLANTATION WORKERS

KUALA LUMPUR, July 26 -- Sime Darby Plantation Bhd’s (SDP) third industrial vaccination centre (PPVIN) in Tennamaram Estate in Bestari Jaya, Selangor will help some 6,500 plantation workers get their COVID-19 vaccination.

In a statement, it said the centre would not only vaccinate SDP workers from the palm oil, rubber and other agricultural sectors in the state but also plantation workers from other companies.

It said the centre is a pilot exercise for the plantation sector in Peninsular Malaysia under the Vaccination Programme for the Agri Commodity Sector (VACOMS) led by the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC) and the Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA).

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“The Tennamaram PPVIN Centre is being set up with the guidance and assistance of all related government agencies, including the COVID-19 Immunisation Taskforce (CITF), the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, the Ministry of Health, ProtectHealth Corporation Sdn Bhd, MPIC and MPOA,” it said.

Managing director Mohamad Helmy Othman Basha said it is vital that plantation workers, the backbone of the country’s agricultural sector, are given the opportunity to be vaccinated.

“However, while the health and well-being of our workers are important to us, we must also ensure that the entire vaccination exercise is voluntarily and that our workers fully understand the process and what it entails,” he said.

Earlier this month, SDP established two other PPVIN centres at its Rajawali and Lavang estates in Bintulu, Sarawak to immunise over 4,000 workers.

On June 17, 2021, the company opened up its headquarters in Ara Damansara, Selangor to host OKU Sentral’s Drive-through Vaccination Centre dedicated to persons with disabilities and their caregivers. 

About 13,500 eligible recipients were registered for the programme and 7,255 doses have already been administered as of July 23, 2021.

-- BERNAMA