China to give Malaysia 500k Sinovac doses, Hisham thanks 'big brother' Wang

 

China has agreed to contribute 500,000 doses of the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine to Malaysia, said Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

Hishammuddin said he received the confirmation on the contribution from his counterpart in China Wang Yi yesterday.

"On behalf of the government of Malaysia, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my counterpart, Wang and the government of China, for this positive development," he said in a statement.

Hishammuddin had previously referred to Wang as a “big brother” when they met in April.

Meanwhile, the minister issued a similarly worded statement thanking Japan and its Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi.

This is after Japan said it would be sending AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured in the country to Malaysia.

Hishammuddin said the contributions from China and Japan would help intensify Malaysia's vaccination programme.

The rate of fully vaccinated Malaysians is a criteria in the government's four-phased Covid-19 exit plan.

To enter Phase Two, 10 percent of the population needs to be fully vaccinated while daily cases need to be below 4,000, and ICU capacity at moderate levels. - Mkini