Anwar slams slow vaccination rate, says ‘no excuse’ for delays

 

Anwar Ibrahim says there should be a probe into the vaccine procurement process.

PETALING JAYA: Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim today criticised the government for the slow progress of the Covid-19 vaccination programme, saying the current rate is “inexcusable”.

To date, the PKR president said, fewer than 3% of Malaysians have been vaccinated.

Citing the European Union, he said that when vaccinations were at 3%, there was “outrage and uproar enough to create the initiative to push the number to 17.8% within a month”.

He said the US under the Joe Biden administration “moved heaven and earth” to accelerate vaccination numbers.

“The Perikatan Nasional-led (PN) government, on the other hand, is obsessed about controlling the process from A to Z, causing completely avoidable delays in procurement,” he said in a statement.

Anwar said that despite the government’s incompetence in handling the vaccination programme by blaming rich countries for cornering the market and thus limiting Malaysia’s access to vaccine supply, many parties had sought to procure their own supply of the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) approved vaccines.

These included several state governments, private businesses and foundations.

However, he said, their efforts had been met with “delays and stonewalling” by the ministries concerned.

“Some private businesses and foundations have informed me that their efforts to procure approved vaccines have been completely ignored by the federal government,” he said.

“I am disturbed at the level of inefficiency on the part of the ministerial leadership. For example, the Selangor government waited for months to gain the necessary approval despite allocating funds to procure over 2 million doses for the people. The Sarawak government faced similar delays in obtaining government approvals.”

He said state governments have their own sophisticated procurement networks and abilities which may exceed the capacity of the federal government.

“There are private companies that are prepared to spend the money, even at a premium, to vaccinate their own workers and families.

“There are foundations and charitable organisations prepared to support vaccination efforts in local communities.

“There are hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of Malaysians who would be perfectly willing to pay a few hundred ringgit out of pocket for vaccination at a private hospital or clinic. If we are adopting an all-of-society approach, why can’t we make use of the resources of the entire society?”

Anwar said the federal government should “immediately and completely” support the efforts of the state governments and private sector to procure approved vaccines to accelerate the vaccination programme.

He also called for a probe into the vaccination procurement process.

“There must be an independent investigation under the auspices of Parliament into the causes of the procurement bottlenecks that have been experienced by the federal government, state governments and private sector,” he said. - FMT