KUCHING, June 24: The Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives (Medac) is currently in talks with the National Security Council (MKN) to put micro entrepreneurs and informal business operators on the priority list for the national Covid-19 vaccination programme.
Its minister Dato Sri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the majority of these business operators are in service sectors which directly deal with the public, and as such they too should be recognised as frontliners.
He said for the national immunisation programme to be truly effective, MKN must also acknowledge sectors other than health, security and defence with similarly high levels of exposure to Covid-19 spread.
This also includes the frontliners in the economic sector, such as those working at the counters in banks, customer service staff as well as petty traders selling food and beverages to the public.
“When I was appointed as the minister of Medac, my priority was to look into the interest of micro and informal businesses because their plight and grievances are rarely heard and yet they account for a huge portion of the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector.
“These groups are the ones who are closely dealing with the public, which makes them highly exposed to the spread of the virus.
“They too should be given priority to get the vaccination.
“We hope MKN can assist us in this,” he said in a media statement.
Wan Junaidi added that both he and Medac secretary-general Datuk Suriani Ahmad have written to the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (Mosti) to arrange for vaccinations for micro and informal business operators.
“Medac’s top management will discuss this matter with representatives from the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) this Friday (June 25) on how we can help these groups to get vaccinated,” he added.
Meanwhile, there are currently close to 2 million micro and informal businesses nationwide which provides employment to more than 7 million people.
More than 78 per cent of the country’s SME sector comprises micro businesses. — DayakDaily
