KUALA LUMPUR, August 2 — The Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force’s (CITF) distribution of Covid-19 vaccines this month will allow all states to fully vaccinate 40 per cent of their adult populations by August 31, Khairy Jamaluddin said today.
The coordinating minister of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) said distribution to states will be based on two criteria — epidemic control and low vaccination rates — after Operation Surge Capacity successfully vaccinated 97 per cent of adult residents in the Klang Valley as of yesterday with at least one dose.
“We will use two criteria for the distribution of vaccines in August. Firstly, by continuing Phase Four, which is epidemic control, where vaccines will be delivered to the required areas as we did in Labuan and the Klang Valley.
“Secondly, it will be based on states where the vaccination rate is still quite low compared to other states. This will allow us to rebalance the vaccination rate so that all states will be able to reach the 40 per cent threshold value on Merdeka Day,” Khairy told a media briefing today.
Data compiled by CodeBlue shows that apart from the Klang Valley (Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Putrajaya) that recorded the highest Covid-19 case incidence rate for the 30th epidemiological week between July 25-31, the states of Negeri Sembilan (477.4 cases per 100,000 people), Melaka (390.5), and Kedah (383.1) recorded higher incidence rates above the national incidence rate of 357.9 cases per 100,000 people.
Kuala Lumpur recorded the nation’s top incidence rate at 846.9 cases per 100,000 people, followed by Selangor (741.1) and Putrajaya (576.4).
Deaths per one million people in Negeri Sembilan (88.6), Melaka (83.6), and Kedah (43.5) also hovered above the national average of 34.4 deaths per million people, including in Johor which recorded 38.9 deaths per million people that week.
CodeBlue previously reported a wide disparity in Covid-19 vaccine supply to states, with Sabah receiving five times fewer doses than Labuan by the end of July.
According to data released on July 28 by the Special Committee for Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) on vaccine distribution to states up to July 31, Sabah would have the lowest number of doses delivered per capita at 47 doses per 100 people, based on total population.
Labuan — which was scheduled by July 31 to receive the highest number of doses per capita at 237 doses per 100 people, or over two doses per person — would have accrued more than five times Sabah’s supply of 47 doses per 100 people, and over three times the national supply of 77 doses per 100 people.
Khairy told Parliament Wednesday that the CITF will try to ensure that the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines to states is balanced.
He said the CITF will attempt to minimise the time difference taken for each state to transition between phases under the National Recovery Plan by balancing the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines.
