KUALA LUMPUR – Final preparations to receive the first batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine on Sunday have been going smoothly, said Deputy Health Director-General (Research and Technical Support) Datuk Dr Hishamshah Mohd Ibrahim.
He said detailed preparations carried out earlier, which include dry delivery runs of the vaccines to storage facilities and to other states, went smoothly, and training has been given to health workers who will be administering the vaccine.
He said the Health Ministry is fully prepared for vaccine distribution and its Pharmaceutical Services Division will oversee logistics and ensure that the vaccines are stored properly.
“Through the dry runs we identified the problems we could face as well as ways to solve them, so that when the vaccines arrive, all will go well.
“The ministry’s procurement division has received a supply of 55 freezers to store the vaccines and they have been placed in the vaccine storage centres, which have already been identified,” he said on Bernama TV talk show Ruang Bicara last night.
In addition, Dr Hishamshah said, existing storage boxes with ultra-low temperatures have been placed at the ministry’s vaccine storage and Malaysian Armed Forces facilities, and these will act as additional storage spaces for the shots.
As such, the ministry will not encounter difficulties in storing the first batch of the vaccines, he said.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that Malaysia would receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine this Sunday, with the first phase of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme scheduled to begin on February 26. – Bernama, February 18, 2021
