Malaysia to open four more mega Covid-19 vaccination centres in Klang Valley on June 7

More such centres would be opened in other states, with Setia Spice Arena being the first in Penang. PHOTO: AFP

Updated

Published

Jun 06, 2021, 12:24 PM

PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Malaysia will on Monday (June 7) open four more mega vaccination centres in the country's busiest Klang Valley region, which covers the capital Kuala Lumpur and represents about a quarter of the country's population, as it continues to accelerate its Covid-19 immunisation drive.

The new mega vaccination centres - two in Kuala Lumpur (Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre and Axiata Arena Bukit Jalil) and another two in Selangor (Setia City Convention Centre and UiTM Puncak Alam) - will have a combined daily capacity of serving 23,000 people when fully operational.

Malaysia's first and only mega vaccination centre currently is located at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre in Segambut, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, that opened its doors on May 30. The 51,000 sq m facility has a capacity to vaccinate about 2,000 people a day but it aims to increase the capacity to 6,000 people daily.

National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin had previously said that The Mines Convention Centre in Seri Kembangan, Selangor, would also be used as a mega vaccination centre.

More such centres would be opened in other states, with Setia Spice Arena being the first in Penang. Spice Arena is also scheduled to start operations on June 7 for the opt-in AstraZeneca vaccination programme. It is expected to administer up to 3,000 doses daily.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has said that more mega vaccination centres are expected to be set up in the near future, especially in densely populated areas such as Klang Valley, Penang, Johor and Sarawak.

Although Mr Khairy had previously described the mega vaccination centres as the "workhorse" of the NIP, he also stressed that they were only one part of the strategy to distribute and administer the vaccines quickly.

General practitioners (GPs) are also being marshalled as an essential part of the vaccination exercise, with the authorities targeting 1,000 GP clinics to be made into vaccination centres by the end of this month.