PENANG, 22 June 2021 - The USM Vaccination Centre (PPV) in Penang began operations yesterday at two separate locations, namely at Dewan Utama Pelajar (Dewan Peperiksaan) at the main campus and at Sains@Bertam in Kepala Batas.

The centres are manned entirely by the USM community comprising of health personnel, operations staff, as well as volunteers among the USM academic and non-academic staff and students.  

Daily operations manager, Mohd Rashid Abdul Rejab, when met said the maximum capacity at both PPVs was around 200 to 1,000 people per day, comprising entirely of the community of Penang island and mainland.

“USM is also making preparations for the drive-through vaccination method, similar to the one that has been successfully implemented and is now running at Hospital USM (HUSM) in Kubang Kerian.

“However, since the PPVs had only started operating yesterday, we still need time to coordinate and fine-tune the entire vaccination process in detail at the PPV so that they can serve the public safely and efficiently.  

“Nevertheless, the drive-through method will be implemented in the near future and it is to cater to the needs of certain quarters, providing an alternative method to speed up the vaccination process, especially for those receiving the second dose of the vaccines,” said Rashid who is the special officer to the USM Vice-Chancellor.

USM has been working closely with the Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF), Penang State Health Department (JKNPP) and the local health authorities to ensure that its PPVs are prepared according to the mandatory safety precautions and guidelines.

Both PPVs are part of the 19 higher education institute vaccination centres (HEI PPV) identified by the Ministry of Higher Education (KPT) to assist and facilitate the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) in its efforts to provide the rakyat with more extensive access to the vaccination move.  

Currently, both PPVs are among the 11 public PPVs in operation in Penang, to help the state achieve herd immunity among the people by October this year as set by MOSTI.

Text: Tan Ewe Hoe/Photo: Ebrahim Abdul Manan