KUALA LUMPUR – The government has set a target of inoculating 75,000 people a day across 600 sites in the country in March, when the national Covid-19 programme begins.
Medical news site Code Blue reported Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin as saying that this is the initial goal set by the government, before it raises the number to 150,000 people a day, depending on the vaccine supply and taking second doses into account.
This means that the government is looking to immunise 27 million individuals, or 80% of the population, by December this year or March next year.
However, Khairy noted that there are potential problems in gaining the supply, including delivery delays of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs, and regulatory delays from Chinese and Russian vaccine producers.
“The portfolio of vaccines will continue to be rebalanced and adjusted, so that we can have a decent supply right up to quarter four of this year.”
He said about 600 vaccination sites have been identified, while other “big venues”, like stadiums, are also being considered.
These sites – to run 24 hours a day – will consist of public health clinics, Health Ministry (MoH) hospitals, university hospitals, Malaysian Armed Forces’ clinics and hospitals, as well as private facilities.
They are identified based on population density and demand, and estimates of how many will receive the jabs on a daily basis.
The government will also look into the number of people living within a certain radius of the vaccination sites.
On the 7,000 general practitioner clinics, Khairy said the matter of using them will be discussed at the state level, and will depend on their location and capacity to administer the vaccine.
However, he said the number of such clinics involved is “not going to be very high”, adding that they will be paid to deliver the service, but patients will receive free vaccination.
He estimates the involvement of some 7,000 vaccination employees, including doctors, medical assistants, medical students, nurses, volunteers and non-governmental organisations, but added that the number could reach more than 10,000, depending on the number of vaccination sites set up.
“We are going to mobilise not just people in the health services sector, but also volunteers from the community, Red Crescent Society and St John Ambulance. We are going to get as many people as possible to be involved in this, a lot of volunteers.
“Part of it is administering (the jab), not anyone can administer, but we want to ensure that all the support services – from registration, to the 15-minute surveillance after you receive (a jab), to making sure there is no adverse reaction – have enough manpower.”
Khairy said community pharmacists may also be roped in to help administer shots, adding that the MoH does not have adequate staff members to run the entire vaccination drive.
“By our calculations, we have enough MoH staff to roll out Phase 1, which is for frontliners. Then we will start training the rest as we go along.” – The Vibes, January 27, 2021
