KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 — Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, and Kelantan did not administer any coronavirus vaccines at all on certain weekend days, despite some hospitals there overflowing with Covid-19 patients.
Kelantan — which had the highest weekly Covid-19 incidence rate in Malaysia from April 23 to 29 — did not vaccinate a single person on April 16 (Friday) and April 17 (Saturday), nor on April 24 (Saturday), while only 84 people were inoculated on April 23.
In Kuala Lumpur — which had the third highest weekly Covid-19 incidence rate from April 23 to 29 — vaccinated just one person on April 17 (Saturday) and none the following day. The following weekend, just six people received the Covid-19 vaccine in the capital city on April 24 (Saturday) and zero on April 25.
Selangor — which reported 5,881 new Covid-19 cases in the week of April 23 to 29, the highest in Malaysia — vaccinated just 46 people on April 24 (Saturday) and none the next Sunday. However, the country’s most developed state did vaccinate 1,087 and 414 people respectively the previous Saturday (April 17) and Sunday (April 18).
For the state of Kelantan, their weekend is on Friday and Saturday, whereas Selangor and Kuala Lumpur maintain Saturday and Sunday as a weekend.
Despite the highest risk of Covid-19 infection in Kelantan, the east coast state only administered an average 1,206 daily vaccine doses from April 15 to 28, lower than Kuala Lumpur (2,473) and Selangor (2,867). Sarawak administered 3,154 shots to the arm daily on average. The numbers include both the first and second dose.
CodeBlue compared the Covid-19 vaccination rate the past fortnight in the four states and federal territory worst hit by Covid-19 — Kelantan, Sarawak, Kuala Lumpur, and Selangor — which all showed a drop in vaccinations, below 100 or even zero, during weekends except Sarawak. No other states were included in CodeBlue’s analysis.
Sarawak, in fact, reported the highest number of vaccinations on the April 24-25 weekend at 6,786 doses on Saturday and 6,135 doses on Sunday in the fortnight of April 15 to 28.
CodeBlue understands that Covid-19 vaccination centres operate on a smaller scale during weekends due to a lower supply of vaccines, and that these facilities will resume inoculation as normal once supply is plentiful.
On average, 23,609 doses of Covid-19 vaccines daily were administered throughout the country from April 15 to 28. Significant dips were recorded on weekends — 9,619 and 9,826 doses on April 17 and 18 respectively, as well as 10,677 and 14,747 doses on April 24 and 25 respectively.
Today, Selangor reported 1,265 new Covid-19 cases, the third consecutive day of more than 1,000 infections in 24 hours. The state’s previous high was on February 17 with 1,382 new cases.
The second highest daily new Covid-19 cases reported today was in Sarawak (760), followed by Kelantan (464), and Kuala Lumpur (255).
CodeBlue earlier reported that Sungai Buloh Hospital in Selangor, as well as certain hospitals in Kelantan and Sarawak, near or reach full capacity in treating critically ill Covid-19 patients.
At the same time, the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia (APHM) also reported that most private hospitals, particularly in the Klang Valley, can no longer accept any more Covid-19 patients after reaching full bed occupancy.
