Peaceful Parliament briefing for KJ and Mosti

KUALA LUMPUR – The briefing session involving Science, Technology, and Information Minister Khairy Jamaluddin (Rembau-BN) this morning was the most peaceful one yet during the Dewan Rakyat session, as opposition MPs paid more attention to his informative speech on the ministry’s vaccination plans.

In addition to briefing the Dewan Rakyat on the timeline of the government’s actions and the setting up of the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF), Khairy also laid out in his speech the agreements signed by the government for vaccine procurement. 

“The first agreement that was signed by the government was Malaysia’s inclusion into the Covax facility under the supervision of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the World Health Organisation.

Through Covax, each participating country will receive a guaranteed supply of vaccines between 10% to 50% of the country’s population.

“The government, through this agreement, has agreed to procure vaccines from pharmaceutical manufacturers such as AstraZeneca, Janssen, and Novovax,” he said.

Khairy said the government also signed a procurement agreement with Pfizer BioNTech for the Comirnaty vaccine.

“The first agreement on November 24, 2020 signed by the Health Minister will see the pharmaceutical supply vaccines to accommodate 20% of the country’s population.

“The amount of vaccines, however, was increased via two amended agreements signed on March 22 and May 19 respectively, making the latest amount of Pfizer-manufactured vaccines purchased equivalent to 70% of the general population,” he said.

Additionally, Khairy said the government also signed another agreement to purchase AstraZeneca vaccines equivalent to 10% of the country’s population on December 21, 2020.

“The government on January 26 also finalised the purchase of vaccines produced by Sinovac, Gamaleya, and Cansino vaccines on January 29,” he said.

At present, Khairy assured that the supply of vaccines – consisting of 8 types of vaccines from six suppliers – are more than required for the Malaysian population, with a surplus of 30.3%.

Only the Sputnik vaccine from Russia’s Gamaleya is presently awaiting approval from the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency.  

Khairy, who is also the programme’s coordinating minister, had earlier given his assurance to states lagging in their vaccination rate that the inoculation exercise will be ramped up next month.

“There are states that have requested for the programme to be expedited in their respective states. By August, states that are behind (in terms of vaccination rate) will be able to catch up with those ahead.”

During the session Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil had tweeted that Khairy’s briefing was not as boring as Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba’s briefing, yesterday.

He also tweeted his appreciation to Khairy for providing a copy of his speech during the briefing session.  – The Vibes, July 28, 2021