KUALA LUMPUR – The “first come, first serve” method used in administering AstraZeneca shots under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme should also be applied for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, said Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM) president Datuk Dr Kuljit Singh.
In fact, he said, this method could be applied to all citizens and residents in the country from time to time in addition to the AstraZeneca roll-out.
He said this could be tightly regulated by the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee based on the vaccine stock available, without depriving any vulnerable group.
“The proposed ad-hoc vaccination from time to time can be managed by private hospitals based on MySejahtera appointments,” he said in a statement today.
He said the recent effort by coordinating minister of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Khairy Jamaluddin on opening the first come, first serve option for the AstraZeneca vaccine has been very well received by the public despite the remote probability of a rare blood clotting complication, reported elsewhere in the world.
“We suggest that similar methodology of opening options for a given number of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme to the public without following the subscribed phases,” he said.
Dr Kuljit also pointed out that this will greatly help those who require the vaccines early for international travel and for other economic frontliners, especially now with the recent increase in cases and the potential spread of new variants.
Prior to this, Khairy said the roll-out of the AstraZeneca jab will be expanded and maintained under the voluntary programme after all 268,000 appointment slots were snapped up in just over three hours last Sunday. – Bernama, May 7, 2021
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