KUALA LUMPUR – Thousands of lives could have been saved had the government expedited the vaccination rate under its National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NCIP) during its first four months.
Pinning their deaths on the government’s failure, Yeo Bee Yin (Bakri-PH) said despite the country surpassing more than 500,000 daily doses administered daily in some days, too many lives have been sacrificed in the process.
The DAP lawmaker added that many of these individuals have even registered to be vaccinated, but did not manage to get their jabs before they succumbed to the virus.
“These are unnecessary deaths,” she said when addressing the Dewan Rakyat special sitting today.
“They died because the NCIP was so slow for the first four months. This figure is not just a statistic, they are the lives of the Malaysia people, who have families and friends.
“The high vaccination rate today cannot give them back their lives. It’s too late for those who are gone and their families.”
Yeo said while there is a need to look forward, the government must be held accountable for their failures.
As of yesterday, the country has recorded 8,408 deaths as Covid-19 infections continue to spiral out of control, with the cumulative cases surpassing the one million mark earlier this week.
Yeo said the government must explain why vaccine supplies to Malaysia have been very slow until mid-June, questioning if this was a result of the government’s delay in procuring the shots.
“Many countries signed agreements (with vaccine manufacturers) by mid-2020, but Malaysia only did this at the end of the year.
“It’s just like buying food from McDonald’s, you must queue in line. Those who order first will get first. The question is, why did the government make its procurement too late?”
Yeo also questioned the decision to only stick to Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Sinovac for months on end, while holding off on approvals for other vaccine brands. – The Vibes, July 28, 2021
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