PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Thousands of Malaysians who work as personnel delivering goods to Singapore will receive Covid-19 vaccines from Singapore, said Malaysian Health Minister Adham Baba.

He said that Singaporean authorities started issuing SMS alerts from Sunday (March 14) to Malaysian cross-border delivery personnel to inform them that they have been chosen to be part of its Covid-19 vaccination programme.

"Singapore has extended their Covid-19 vaccination programme to include Malaysian delivery personnel who travel frequently between the two countries.

"The Singapore Health Ministry put up a notice on its website and we have confirmed this through our Malaysia International Health Regulation (IHR) focal point with Singapore's.

"We were not informed of the details of the Malaysian recipients as Singapore stated that their authorities would alert them directly," said Datuk Dr Adham.

He urged those who had been alerted to accept the offer as they might not be allowed into Singapore if they are not vaccinated.

"They are not stopped in any way from accepting the Singaporean government's offer, which is given for free," said Dr Adham.

He also said those who accept and receive the vaccine should inform the Malaysian Health Ministry so that authorities can update their records, especially those who had registered themselves for vaccination with the MySejahtera app.

"Those receiving the vaccines in Singapore can inform us by calling us at 03-8883 3952 between 9am and 5pm daily or email us at imunisasi@moh.gov.my," said Dr Adham.

He said that those who received the vaccines in Singapore would not be vaccinated again in Malaysia.

"We have between 3,000 and 4,000 delivery personnel entering Singapore daily," said Dr Adham.

Health Ministry data showed that between Jan 22 and 29 this year, 19 of the 33,931 lorry drivers and assistants who were screened for Covid-19 tested positive at Johor Baru international checkpoints at Bangunan Sultan Iskandar and Sultan Abu Bakar Complex.

They were screened using the RTK-antigen method.

Earlier Sunday, Johor Mentri Besar Hasni Mohammad said that the government was targeting to vaccinate 100,000 Malaysians who work in Singapore under the second phase of the National Immunisation Programme.