THE Health Ministry is not forcing employers to get the Covid-19 booster shots for foreign workers they bring into the country, says Dr Zaliha Mustafa.
“We encourage anyone, local or foreign workers, to get the booster shots. It is up to the other agencies whether they want to come out with policies apart from our ministry’s policies,” the Health Minister said in reply to a supplementary question by Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (Muda-Muar).
The MP asked if the recent reports were true over losses suffered by Pharmaniaga Bhd due to overstocking of Covid-19 vaccines and that the Health Ministry was forcing employers to bear the cost of providing booster jabs to foreign workers.On Tuesday, employers and businesses voiced opposition against a suggestion to provide Covid-19 booster jabs for foreign workers.
This concern comes after Pharmaniaga Bhd, Malaysia’s sole distributor of the Covid-19 vaccine, lost over RM216mil, or 38% of its market value, in a week following a RM552mil vaccine provision due to slow-moving vaccine inventories.
On Saturday, its chief executive officer was said to have raised the possibility of the vaccines being used as boosters for foreign workers.On the second booster jab, Dr Zaliha said the response was still poor.
She noted that there had been a slight increase in those getting their second booster doses over the past few weeks.
“Previously, only 1.9% had taken their second booster dose. This increased to 2.2% over the past few weeks following calls for more to get their booster shots,” she said.
