KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia is on track to immunise about a million citizens with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine under next month’s Covid-19 Immunisation Plan, with a second phase in April or May, said Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba.
The New Straits Times quoted the health minister as saying the vaccines will first go to frontliners and other high-risk groups.
He expects the immunisation plan to roll out once the jabs arrive next month.
“It will be followed by the second phase, with the arrival of 6.2 million vaccines in April and May.
“The government will provide these vaccines for free to all Malaysians, with a target of 80%, or 26 million people.”
Those considered high-risk are people with chronic diseases, such as kidney, heart and lung diseases, and diabetes.
Dr Adham said Malaysia has no plans to reopen its international borders, seeing the number of infections worldwide.
The country itself has been recording daily cases of between 1,000 and 2,500.
“It will take some time before Malaysia is able to flatten the curve since we started enforcing the recovery movement control order (RMCO),” said Dr Adham after the Tenggara Wanita Umno delegates’ meeting.
“We use the RMCO as a method to balance life and livelihood, to revive the economy.”
It was announced that the RMCO will be in place until March 31.
On December 22, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said he will be among the first in the country to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, in a bid to allay public concerns over its safety and efficacy.
“To convince the public that the vaccines are safe and efficient, I will be among the first individuals to receive the jab. This will be followed by frontliners, before they are given to high-risk groups.”
He said the government has also inked an agreement with AstraZeneca, a research-based biopharmaceutical company, to secure 6.4 million doses, or 10% more vaccines.
The deal will cover a tenth of the Malaysian population, he said.
This is on top of previous agreements signed with Pfizer-BioNTech and global vaccine development platform Covax, to cover 20% and 10% of the population, respectively.
“We are also in the process of final negotiations with Sinovac, CanSino and Gamaleya that will guarantee us vaccine supply for over 80% of our population, or about 26.5 million (people),” said Muhyiddin in a video message uploaded to Astro Awani’s Twitter account.
“The government will continue to negotiate with other pharmaceutical companies to ensure we have enough free guaranteed vaccine access for all Malaysians.” – The Vibes, January 3, 2021
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