LETTER | We are aghast to note the misinformation in recent press reports that our association has proposed “that workers pay a small fee of RM50 for on-site vaccinations after malls agreed to subsidise the cost of the exercise”.

PPK Malaysia or Malaysia Shopping Malls Association did not and will not ask our members to pay a “fee of RM50 for on-site vaccinations”. We are very much aware and have stated in all our communications that the vaccines are provided free by the government. 

However, there is a RM15 per dose i.e. RM30 per course of two doses charged by Protect Health Corporation for the services of doctors/nurses/medical officers to administer the vaccines. 

It is pertinent to note that this payment is prepaid and non-refundable. The malls are to provide the venue and all the antecedent manpower from administration to security and standby ambulance service whereby the real cost to the mall is RM100 to RM150 per dose depending on volume and size of the on-site vaccination centre (PPV).

As stated in our previous press statements, we reiterate that the malls have offered to deeply subsidise this programme by only charging a nominal RM10 per dose out of the RM100 to RM150 real cost plus RM15 per dose to be collected and paid to Protect Health Corporation for the services of doctors/ nurses/medical officers.

The nominal RM10 per dose is a commitment for the participant to turn up for vaccination. Unfortunately, we are too much aware that in our society when things are offered to be completely free of charge, people who have pre-registered may not turn up because they do not have any commitments. 

This will ultimately result in a waste of the precious vaccines due to no-shows, thereby depriving others of the opportunity for early vaccination and/or the vaccines may even go to waste.

At no time, did we ask our members to pay for the cost. However, we did advise our malls to bill their tenants/shops a standard amount of RM50 as a subsidised charge as this will work as a commitment for participants to turn up.

We are also completely at a loss why the RM50 charge is being stigmatised whereby, to our knowledge, there are several other much higher "charges" being offered by other third parties to different sectors of the economy.

In fact, the public has questioned why there is a fee charged by Protect Health since the government has gallantly given free vaccinations at all the public PPVs and mobile PPVs as well as at private clinics as and when it is rolled out. 

Why is there a penalty for those who are frontliners in the private sector and anxious to be vaccinated but have yet to be scheduled through the MySejatera system? 

After all, this public-private collaboration for all the identified economic sectors including retail frontliners is to complement the government’s efforts to hasten and accelerate the vaccination programme to reach herd immunity as soon as possible.

It was also mentioned that we were denounced for the proposal, that all costs for the vaccination programme should be picked up by employers.

We do agree wholeheartedly that employers should pick up the tab and have indeed urged our member malls to absorb the cost for the personnel employed by the malls directly. 

Similarly, we have also urged the tenant employers to also pick up the tab for their respective employees. The fact that more than 60 malls and most of the mall tenants have enthusiastically signed up to participate is a clear testimony of the interest to join this noble cause, both morally and monetarily.

It must also be noted that the programme is offered solely on an optional basis targeted towards retail frontliners, not the public, and there is completely no coercion to participate except that we strongly encourage all malls to arrange for their staff and the employees of their business/shops to be vaccinated as this is one of the key measures to achieve herd immunity and start the recovery journey.

We hope the information can be seen in the proper context and not from a myopic viewpoint as stated in the reports and we hope our altruistic offer to both deeply subsidise the cost of administering the vaccination as well as attempting to accelerate vaccination for retail frontliners in collaboration with the authorities will not be further misconstrued.

We fight a common battle and urgently need to unite all hands and resources to be on board. Lives and livelihoods matter. 

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