The banking, oil and gas (O&G) sectors as well as the aviation sector on Bursa Malaysia are expected to benefit from an investor perspective following the National Covid-19 Immunization Program (NIP) launched by the government yesterday.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the implementation of the immunization program would restore business confidence in Malaysia and further drive economic growth with more relaxation of travel restrictions expected.
"As the number of travel movements may increase after the vaccination period provided the vaccine is proven effective, the airline will increase its aviation capacity, resulting in higher fuel consumption, which is good for the O&G sector," he said as reported by Bernama today.
At the same time, according to Adam, the glove sector may be adversely affected as investors may feel that rubber gloves are no longer needed compared to the early days of the Covid-19 transmission.
"Developing glove makers may be affected and experience declining demand because public sentiment shows that they are skeptical of demand for the post-vaccination program period.
"However, demand remains stable in the future in an environment of increasing levels of awareness of hygiene practices in most places around the world," explained Adam.
On the notion that logistics companies are also expected to benefit from the overflow effects of the NIP, Adam argues that there are bound to be some problems involving vaccine logistics.
"Vaccines need to be stored at a set temperature and not many warehouse providers have this capability, so there may be problems when distributing and storing the vaccine," he said.
Adam also suggested that logistics companies expand their business by engaging in vaccine distribution and storage management as it would be in high demand when the vaccine immunization program was launched.
Malaysia will start the immunization program on February 26 and is the largest vaccination program it has ever done in an effort to protect the people from Covid-19.
The first vaccine delivery is scheduled to be delivered five days in advance on February 21.
The Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin will be the first individual to receive the Covid-19 vaccine on February 26 followed by the front-line task force under the NIP which is expected to last until February next year.
