MARANG, Sept 20 — The Terengganu Health Department today kicked off its vaccination drive for 3,150 inmates at two prisons in the state to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection among them.
Its director Datuk Dr Kasemani Embong said of the total, 2,600 were inmates at the Marang Prison while the remaining 550 were at the Dungun Correctional Centre.
“The vaccination programme at the Marang Prison will be conducted for three days while at the Dungun Correctional Centre, all 550 inmates will be inoculated today.
“Being behind bars does not mean that they are safe from the COVID-19 virus. Therefore, we are speeding up this vaccination process to achieve 80 per cent herd immunity in prison areas,” he told reporters after inspecting the vaccination programme at the Marang Prison, here today.
Also present were Marang Prison director Senior Assistant Commissioner Nik Robidin Ab Rahman and Marang district officer Lizan Che Mat.
Dr Kasemani said there were 300 inmates of Marang Prison who would not receive the vaccine under the programme due to health problems.
“We will give them enough time to recover and get them vaccinated later. All of them will receive the CanSino vaccine,” he said.
A total of 364 COVID-19 positive cases were reported at the Marang Prison since the pandemic started last year.
Dr Kasemani said the department would receive 9,000 doses of CanSino vaccine in stages until the end of this month for the vaccination programme for prison inmates, Orang Asli and the homeless in Terengganu.
