The Covid-19 vaccination centre (PPV) for the Construction Industry Vaccination Programme (CIVac) in the northern region will be in Penang, state exco Zairil Khir Johari said today.

He said registration for CIVac in the northern region is now open for all workers in the construction sector but it will be on a first-come-first-served basis.

The transport and infrastructure committee chairman urged employers in the sector to register their workers as soon as possible.

“The first phase of the CIVac will only vaccinate 25,000 workers but there are 47,950 workers registered with the Construction Industry Development Board in Penang, 40,347 workers in Perak, 29,062 in Kedah and 5,690 in Perlis,” he said in a joint statement with Penang Master Builders president Datuk Lim Chee Tong.

Zairil said clearly the demand for Covid-19 vaccines far surpasses the allocated vaccines for the first phase.

“The state government, along with the Penang Master Builders, wish to call on the federal government, especially the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force to prioritise this sector in the other phases,” he said.

He added that he hopes the CIVac initiative will help to push Penang along towards achieving its aim of transitioning to Phase Three of the National Recovery Plan by August.

He said Covid-19 clusters are often found among the construction sector and this is mostly due to the working and living conditions of the workers in the sector.

Zairil said the construction sector is an important economic driver which involves a large ecosystem that covers labourers, suppliers and services such as architecture, engineering, lawyers and many more.

“Therefore, the state welcomes the move by CIDB Malaysia and the Ministry of Works to implement CIVac to speed up vaccination among construction workers,” he said.

Registration for CIVac can be done at https://vaccine.cidblink.com/ from today onwards. For enquiries, call 03-40428880 or email to vaksinpenang@cidbh.com.my.

Source: MalayMail.com