JOHOR BARU: Johor is expected to enter Phase 2 of the National Recovery (NRP) this week following the increase in the state's vaccination rate.
Menteri Besar Datuk Hasni Mohammad said the percentage of adult population in Johor who had received the complete dose of the Covid-19 vaccine was expected to surpass 50 per cent in the next one or two days.
"We expect 100 per cent of the adult population in the state to get at least one dose of the vaccine by the end of the month and achieve herd immunity by October," he said.
Hasni said the state was scheduled to receive 1.9 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine this month which would help to boost the vaccination rate in Johor.
"Our challenge now is to ramp up the vaccination efforts and help those who have yet to get their vaccination appointment.
"Among the measures taken are to allow walk-in at vaccination centres that have excess vaccine and organise more outreach programmes by mobilising mobile (vaccination centres)," he told reporters during a visit to the State Education Department here.
Also present were state Education, Information, Heritage and Culture Committee chairman Mazlan Bujang.
On the issue of teachers who refused to be vaccinated, Hasni said he agreed with the Health Ministry's proposal to make them undergo regular testing.
"The state government supports the proposal that anybody, not only teachers, who does not want or is not ready to be vaccinated should be tested regularly.
"This should not be a problem as there are a lot of test kits that are available in the market," he said.
At the event, Hasni also presented laptops to the Education Department which would then distribute them to underprivileged students in the state.
This is part of the state government's initiative announced under the Ihsan Johor 3.0 economic stimulus package.
Under the initiative, 8,000 laptops will be distributed to needy students in the state to help them with their home learning.
"The state government has allocated RM25 million for the initiative. The Education Department will be responsible in distributing the laptops, which is complete with a data package.
"Due to various standard operating procedures, there will be a slight delay in the supply of the laptops but we hope to complete the distribution by November," said Hasni.