Consider allowing private hospitals to buy Covid-19 vaccines, govt told

KUALA LUMPUR – The government should consider allowing private hospitals to purchase Covid-19 vaccines to enable Malaysians willing to pay for the vaccination to be inoculated ahead of schedule, said Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia president Datuk Dr Kuljit Singh.

Dr Kuljit told The Vibes that allowing individuals to obtain vaccines at private hospitals will lessen the government’s financial burden of having to vaccinate as many people as possible.

“Our suggestion is that patients who can pay for the vaccine on a voluntary basis can get the jabs themselves first.

“This will not only help the government reduce its expenditure on the purchase of vaccines, but also enable those who cannot afford the vaccine to obtain them.

“Those who pay will give way for those who cannot pay.”

Dr Kuljit said many people have expressed their willingness to pay and obtain the vaccines at private hospitals.

The request allowing private hospitals to purchase any brand of vaccine besides the Pfizer-BioNTech one has been conveyed to Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba and Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who is the coordinating minister for the immunisation programme.

“I met them recently and have verbally asked that the government allow private hospitals to purchase Covid-19 vaccines. 

“I was told that there are no plans currently to allow such purchase of vaccines by private hospitals, but perhaps at a later date,” said Dr Kuljit.

He said the government was probably resistant to the idea of private hospitals disseminating the vaccine now because they (the government) wanted to complete the vaccine rollout first.

Then again, the government did give its nod for two private hospitals – Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur and KPJ Tawakal KL – to vaccinate private healthcare workers from Kuala Lumpur starting today.

On the cost of the vaccination in the event private hospitals are allowed to distribute the vaccine, Dr Kuljit said the pricing is still undecided.

Production of Covid-19 vaccines could top 16 billion doses this year with prices of each vaccine and storage cost varying between them. 

For example, the second version of the Pfizer vaccine does not require storage in ultra-low temperatures between -80 and -60 degree Celsius.

Last Thursday, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the storage of Pfizer’s vaccine at temperatures commonly found in pharmaceutical freezers for a period of up to two weeks.

“The alternative temperature for transportation and storage will help ease the burden of procuring ultra-low cold storage equipment for vaccination sites and should help get vaccines to more sites,” said Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Centre for Biologics Evaluation and Research. – The Vibes, March 1, 2021