KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — Khairy Jamaluddin today projected Malaysia to vaccinate 200,000 people a day against Covid-19 by next month, more than double the current rate of 75,000 daily jabs.
The coordinating minister of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) also said the government has renegotiated its coronavirus vaccine delivery schedule to expedite deliveries.
The federal government’s entire order of 12 million Sinovac vaccine doses is expected to be delivered by the end of July, while 25 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are expected to arrive in the third quarter of this year.
“Although the initial plan was to vaccinate 80 per cent of our population by the end of the year, the prime minister has instructed me to get this done much quicker,” Khairy said in a video posted by the Special Committee For Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) today.
“We are now hitting 100,000 doses a day. We want to double this by July. We are adding more vaccination centres or PPVs, including mega PPVs that can handle 5,000 to 10,000 doses a day.”
Over the past seven days from May 25 to 31, Malaysia has vaccinated an average of about 75,000 people a day. A total of 107,340 doses were administered nationwide on May 27. Over the past 14 days from May 18 to 31, an average of about 72,000 people were vaccinated daily.
Khairy acknowledged that the current Movement Control Order (MCO) is necessary in light of the surging Covid-19 epidemic, but stressed that lockdowns are unsustainable, necessitating a faster vaccination rate.
The National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA), said Khairy, is currently evaluating CanSino Biologics’ single-shot Covid-19 vaccine.
Khairy added that besides mega vaccination centres, the government is also increasing the number of PPVs at private general practitioner (GP) clinics and private hospitals. By the end of this month, 1,000 GP clinics are expected to administer Covid-19 vaccines under PICK.
Drive-through PPVs will also be set up, while mobile outreach teams have been formed at the state level to deliver Covid-19 vaccination to care homes for the elderly and the disabled, villages, homeless shelters, Orang Asli villages, and isolated areas “so that no one is left without a vaccine”, said Khairy.
“We will empower the states and districts to implement the vaccination programme in order to overcome their unique local challenges,” said the science, technology and innovation minister.
“We will also start to vaccinate industries and economic sectors that have to remain open during the MCO. This is important because we know the virus spreads with greater mobility. People who are out and about working need to be vaccinated to protect them and everyone else.
“I understand the frustration from everyone waiting for their turn to be vaccinated. With the rising number of cases, there is greater urgency. The Covid Immunisation Task Force will continue to accelerate our rate of vaccination to ensure we can protect as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.”
