GEORGE TOWN – Penang has abandoned plans to procure its own Covid-19 vaccines as supply is no longer an issue, with the state government aiming to ramp up the daily vaccination rate to between 25,000 and 30,000 by July.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the federal government had made it clear that supply is not an issue anymore and had allocated an additional half a million doses of vaccines for the state.
“Therefore, the next task for the state is to ensure that we have enough manpower and add more vaccine delivery centres to achieve the goal. We need to sort these two factors out and manage our resources well.
“The best case scenario is finishing this by August or September this year, and the worst case is finishing it by October,” he told a press conference after visiting the Spice Arena centre for AstraZeneca vaccines here today.
He said that there are six private hospital vaccination centres in Penang, which aim to administer 50 to 200 doses each daily, and 13 general practitioner vaccination centres, which can administer up to 90 doses each weekly.
Commenting on the Spice Arena centre’s operations, which run from today to July 27, Chow said 112,350 Penangites registered for the opt-in AstraZeneca vaccine, with 31,928 aged above 60 and the remaining 80,422 aged 18 to 59.
Spice Arena, which operates from 8am to 9pm on Mondays to Fridays and 8am to 5pm on Saturdays and Sundays, will administer 1,000 shots a day for the first three days and increase it to 3,000 a day on weekdays and 2,000 on weekends. – Bernama, June 7, 2021
