Selangor Loans Federal Government Covid-19 Vaccines Amid Shortages

Penang and Negeri Sembilan report vaccine shortages that disrupt vaccinations in several PPVs.

KUALA LUMPUR, August 19 — The Selangor state government has decided to lend 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines from its own purchased supply to the federal administration to help curb outbreaks in other states.

Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari said the half a million doses purchased for the state’s vaccination programme Selvax, which uses Sinovac, will be loaned to the national Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) for use in areas and states with surging coronavirus infections amid poor vaccine coverage, after discussion with Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

“National CITF will subsequently return the loan of these vaccine doses as preparation for the potential need of booster doses,” Amirudin said in a statement today.

He added that as of yesterday, 98 per cent of Selangor residents have received at least one vaccine dose, after segregating data between Selangor residents who got their jabs in vaccination centres (PPVs) in Selangor and those who received their shots in Kuala Lumpur PPVs.

Malaysia today reported a record high 22,948 new Covid-19 cases, 45 per cent of which came from Sabah, Kedah, Johor, Perak, Kelantan, and Penang that paediatrician Dr Amar-Singh HSS has dubbed as “crisis states”.

Less than a third of the total population in those states have been fully vaccinated to date, compared to 54 per cent in the Klang Valley. 

Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng complained Tuesday about coronavirus vaccine shortages that halted second-dose vaccination appointments at four PPVs.

Penang has just fully inoculated about 31 per cent of its total population, amid surging Covid-19 cases that reached a daily record high 1,867 infections yesterday. Another 1,655 new cases were reported today.

Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar  Aminuddin Harun reportedly said yesterday that several PPVs in the state may be closed this weekend due to vaccine shortages, as the state received supply this week of only 21,000 doses per day, compared to the usual 25,000.

CodeBlue reported yesterday that Malaysia has only received 34 per cent of Covid-19 vaccine doses ordered, excluding doses contributed by foreign countries. 

Malaysia only has some 4.5 million doses left in stock after administering 29,368,856 doses as of yesterday, from a supply of 33,879,979 doses received as of August 16.

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