KUALA LUMPUR, August 6 — The Klang Valley is expected to fully vaccinate all adult residents against Covid-19 with two vaccine doses by September 5 at the earliest.
This is based on rolling seven-day average second-dose inoculation rates in the central region as a whole yesterday.
Based on CodeBlue’s projections, the Klang Valley will achieve 100 per cent second-dose coverage of some 6.2 million adults by September 5 in a best-case scenario or October 16 at the latest.
The best-case scenario assumes individuals were given Pfizer-BioNTech or Sinovac with three-week dosing intervals. The worst-case scenario is projected at six weeks later based on AstraZeneca-Oxford’s nine-week interval between two doses.
Malaysia’s richest region of Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, and Putrajaya — which has about 6.2 million adult residents — administered a rolling seven-day average of 109,240 daily second doses and 84,665 daily first doses yesterday.
The government completed Operation Surge Capacity on August 1 as scheduled to accelerate vaccination in the Klang Valley that is the current virus epicentre. As of August 5, about 99 per cent of Klang Valley’s adult population has received at least one dose, including 45.5 per cent who are fully vaccinated with double doses.
The federal Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) together with state governments rolled out aggressive coronavirus vaccination campaigns in Labuan, the Klang Valley, and Sarawak in the last few months. Covid-19 outbreaks in Labuan and Sarawak have largely subsided with case incidence rates far below the national rate.
The Klang Valley, however, continues to record surging infections and deaths from Covid-19. Yesterday, Selangor reported a record-high 8,549 new Covid-19 cases. Coupled with Kuala Lumpur’s 2,163 new cases and Putrajaya’s 50 cases, the Klang Valley reported 10,762 fresh infections, comprising 52 per cent of the nation’s 24-hour high of 20,596 new cases.
Over the past week as of yesterday, the Klang Valley recorded 655 Covid-19 deaths, comprising 471 in Selangor and 184 in Kuala Lumpur, both of which make up about half of the nation’s 1,294 deaths.
According to CodeBlue’s projections, Labuan and Sarawak are expected to fully inoculate 100 per cent of their adult populations by September 1 and October 14 respectively in a best-case scenario.
As of yesterday, Labuan has vaccinated 95.7 per cent of its adult population with at least the first dose, including 83.9 per cent with two doses. Sarawak has inoculated 85.5 per cent of its adult population with at least one dose, including 70.2 per cent with double doses.
Nationwide, CodeBlue projects that all adults in Malaysia’s 23.4 million population aged 18 and older will receive their first dose by September 6, as well as two doses by October 11 at the earliest. This is in line with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s goal of fully vaccinating everyone in the country aged 18 and above by October.
Based on rolling seven-day averages, 263,669 first doses and 232,488 second doses were administered across the country yesterday, totalling 496,157 daily jabs.
As of August 5, about 65 per cent of adults in Malaysia have received at least their first dose, including more than a third, or some 34 per cent, fully inoculated.
Vaccine Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said last Monday that he expected all states to fully vaccinate 40 per cent of their adult populations by month end.
According to CodeBlue’s projections, four states will likely miss the August 31 target based on their rolling seven-day average second-dose vaccination rates yesterday. They may hit 40 per cent adult coverage with double jabs at the earliest from September instead: Kelantan (September 1), Pahang (September 2), Johor (September 17), and Sabah (November 13).
These rates are expected to change once CITF shifts focus to those states. Muhyiddin reportedly said yesterday that the federal government was aiming to fully vaccinate 40 per cent of Johor’s adult population by August 31.
CodeBlue’s projections are based on rolling seven-day average vaccination rates and assume that everyone registers for their jabs and receives appointments. Inoculation may slow if vaccine registration plateaus in future.
