KUALA LUMPUR – In a riposte to criticism from Selangor on the Covid-19 vaccine supply, minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the state has acquired 1,367,306 doses, of which 322,606 are unused as of yesterday.
The national vaccine programme’s coordinating minister also denied that vaccines are not being supplied to Selangor, saying the agreed doses delivered for this month stands at 40,000 daily.
“Selangor has to increase the usage rate of the vaccine; these allegations that vaccines have not been sent to Selangor are not true.
“The Selangor menteri besar has said that the state’s vaccination capacity is at 40,000, so we supply the doses based on that. I’m not sure where the exco got 80,000.”
He added that the plan for Selangor next month is to reach 100,000 jabs a day, and for all states to use more than 90% of their vaccine supply.
He said Selangor intends to take charge of its vaccination programme while working with the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.
“We have agreed to Selangor’s request; however, it is important that the reports from the state have to be in line with the data from the national vaccination programme, so there is no overlapping information.”
His response comes after Selangor exco Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud yesterday warned that the state will be forced to temporarily close some vaccination centres unless its Covid-19 vaccine supply is replenished.
In a series of tweets, she said the state’s vaccination capacity stands at 87,616, and that it administers a daily average of 50,000 first-dose jabs and 20,000 for the second.
“Balance 20k doses. If no additional vaccines arrive by tomorrow, some PPV will hv to close. Discriminate (against) Selangor, (and the) whole country will suffer. You answer to Allah YB Menteri.”
She tagged Khairy, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and his chief medical adviser Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood, as well as Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari.
Khairy said there are plans to open up more vaccination centres (PPVs) in the country, in a bid to make the vaccination process more accessible.
He highlighted the opening of a PPV in Tg Karang that will reduce the distance needed to travel by the residents to receive their vaccines.
Tg Karang residents had earlier been forced to travel to either Kuala Selangor or Puncak Alam to receive their jabs.
“The Tg Karang PPV will have a capacity of 1,000 people a day but, for now, it will handle 500 a day. Capacity will be increased once operations are running smoothly,” he said.
Towards the end of the press conference, Khairy asked who among the media have not been vaccinated, and proceeded to point at a member of his staff and jokingly suggested they blame the staffer for the delay. – The Vibes, June 28, 2021
