He said this was because the government could not give the vaccine to those without valid personal documents.
“Some parties had objected to the plan (to detain illegal immigrants) but it has to be made clear that if those detained do not have (valid) documents, how are we to include them in the vaccination programme?
“The government cannot give vaccines to this group because every vaccination registration programme requires valid documentation,” he told newsmen after visiting a temporary immigration depot at the Eco Millennium National Service Training Camp in Beranang, near here, today.
Hamzah was responding to statements issued by several opposition MPs and state assemblymen regarding the position of illegal immigrants in the national vaccination programme.
“If they are not detained, will they go out to get vaccinated? That is why they are detained and we will investigate whether they have an employer or otherwise,” he said.
Hamzah said the next step would be to work with the employers involved to ask them to go to the embassy of each illegal immigrant to obtain valid documents before the group can receive the vaccine.
He also invited the MPs and state assemblymen who objected to the government’s plan to help sponsor illegal immigrants detained as well as employers to facilitate the process of obtaining their legal documents.
Meanwhile, Hamzah said the home ministry will improve the admission process for prisoners and illegal immigrants so as to reduce the spread of Covid-19 cases among inmates at prisons and immigration depots.
He said that, so far, the government ensured that all prisoners and illegals were examined first before being placed in temporary detention centres to avoid the spread of the virus.
“The government is looking at ways to ensure cooperation with the health ministry. For example, if a nearby lock-up contacts a temporary detention centre to house its inmates, we will ensure that the RTK antigen test results can be obtained in just 15 to 20 minutes.
“If there are those among them who are found positive, we will place them in quarantine,” he said.
According to Hamzah, thus far, the temporary detention centres nationwide had been successful in curbing the spread of Covid-19 in prisons and Immigration depots.
“There are only 48 positive Covid-19 cases in prisons nationwide while at the immigration depots, there are only 30 individuals,” he said.
CLICK HERE FOR OUR LIVE UPDATE OF THE COVID-19 SITUATION IN MALAYSIA