Retailers hope to be prioritised in vaccination
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia Retailers Association (MRA) is calling for retailers to be recognised as frontliners, allowing them to be next in line for the Covid-19 vaccination.
Its president, Tan Sri William Cheng, said retailers nationwide had been holding a crucial position as a pillar of the country’s economy.
“We applaud the prime minister and health director-general’s bravery in being the first to be inoculated, as we strongly believe creating herd immunity in our community will help to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
“Relating to this, we too want to safeguard the health of retailers nationwide, while moving towards the recovery of the economy and retail sector.
“As we know, private consumption has been one of the factors contributing to the growth of the national economy.
“In 2018, this factor had contributed more than 57.3 per cent of the gross domestic product, 34.6 per cent of which came from the retail industry alone.”
He added that in 2019, more than 1.2 million workers had been employed in the retail industry.
“Apart from healthcare and non-healthcare workers, we want to make sure that retailers, as an important frontliner, are well protected, especially when there is exposure to Covid-19 risks on a daily basis,” he said yesterday.
Cheng applauded the efforts by the Special Committee on Covid19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee, as well as other agencies in ensuring the safe arrival of vaccines in Malaysia.
“We support the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) as one of the efforts to prevent the pandemic in the country from worsening.
“As the voice for the retail industry in Malaysia, representing 20 per cent or RM22 billion of the country’s retail market size, we are ready to cooperate with the Health Ministry and any related agencies to ensure that the country can soon be free of the Covid19 virus.
“We see it as a critical journey to help bring back some normalcy and hoped that by recognising retail workers as frontliners to be vaccinated in the first phase of NIP, it will not only give confidence, but also great assurance to consumers and the public at large that their wellbeing is safeguarded and protected.
“As the slogan Lindung Diri, Lindung Semua goes, we can together play our role to control and overcome the pandemic. And most importantly, keep the economy going,” he said.