National Vaccination Programme will enhance workforce mobility - AMCHAM

By Anas Abu Hassan

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 -- Businesses in Malaysia are looking forward to the resumption of business travel and enhanced workforce mobility following the implementation of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) said. 

Its chief executive officer, Siobhan Das said an AMCHAM survey conducted earlier this month showed that 42 per cent of the respondents needed more employees to return to the workplace. 

"A well-implemented vaccination programme will also restore confidence within the workforce and enable them to be back at the office, with revised standard operating procedures to reflect reduced threat levels.

"To facilitate economic recovery, AMCHAM urges the government to provide more clarity in the vaccine roll-out plan for industries and businesses," she said in an email interview with Bernama. 

According to Siobhan, a well-executed vaccination programme will be a critical factor to restore the business community’s confidence, both at home and abroad.

"The cold-chain logistics for Malaysia will be very challenging, as in the distribution network’s capacity and ability to penetrate the less accessible people, both in rural and urban areas.

"We hope that the government will improve its communication systems and be more transparent with the processes involved and the sharing of data, including the number of doses received, administered and lost in the various sectors of the population," she said. 

Malaysia is scheduled to receive its first Pfizer-BioNTech BNT1262b vaccine on Feb 21, and the national vaccination programme will begin on Feb 26. 

-- BERNAMA