KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 — Selangor ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah today expressed surprise at the federal government’s announcement that Selangor had only received 615,210 Covid-19 vaccine doses, instead of 2.9 million as initially announced.
The Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) clarified in a statement last Saturday that Selangor — the country’s most developed state — had received, for statewide distribution, 615,210 coronavirus vaccine doses as of June 1, and that the earlier 2,909,670 figure had included stock in a distributor’s warehouse in Selangor intended for nationwide distribution.
“His Majesty was shocked when the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force confirmed that, as of 1 June 2021, Selangor had only received 615,210 Covid-19 vaccine doses, and not 2.9 million doses as previously claimed,” Sultan Sharafuddin’s private secretary Mohamad Munir Bani said in a statement today.
“He stressed that it is unfair that the current amount of vaccine deliveries is not proportionate to the size of Selangor’s 6.5 million population. He wishes to issue a reminder that the state of Selangor is the biggest contributor to Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP), hence this state should be prioritised.”
CITF said in its statement that Selangor had received the highest number of Covid-19 vaccine deliveries in Malaysia as of June 1 with 615,210 doses, followed by Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya with 578,130 doses and Johor with 370,680 doses.
When accounting for total population size however, out of the three states and federal territories, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya combined received the highest number of Covid-19 vaccine deliveries at about 31 doses for every 100 people, followed by Johor’s 10 doses for every 100 people, and Selangor’s nine doses for every 100 people.
The federal Covid-19 vaccine committee did not reveal the number of vaccine deliveries to other states.
Sultan Sharafuddin today called for an increase of Covid-19 vaccination centres (PPVs) in Selangor, especially in the outskirts, suggesting also drive-through vaccine rollouts or mobile clinics to increase vaccination coverage.
“His Majesty also praises the Selangor state government’s aggressive efforts in providing Covid-19 swab tests for free to residents across the state.”
The state ruler urged the Special Committee on Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) to expedite and increase Covid-19 vaccine deliveries to Selangor, in light of rising coronavirus infections and deaths in the state that have reached cumulative 203,520 cases and 961 fatalities as of June 7. Selangor’s total 203,520 infections comprised about a third of the country’s 622,086 confirmed Covid-19 cases.
