1. Target Population versus Entire Population 2. So Who Is Hoarding The Vaccines Now? 3. Soalan untuk Ismail Sabri

 1. Target Population versus Entire Population

I have received the following well researched and concise points by a reader Foo Lee Khean (thank you very much) about the 80% of population that need to be vaccinated for herd immunity.

Foo points out that we only need to vaccinate 80% of the TARGET POPULATION which is less than the entire population. Here are his points.

Dear Sir, I was reading your latest posting on the vaccination program.

This was the vaccination program announced in February 2021:

 

Phase	Projected time frame	Target group	Projected Number to be Vaccinated
1	Feb 2021 – April 2021	Frontliners	500,000
2	April 2021- August 2021	High-risk groups	9,400,000
3	May 2021 - Feb 2022	Adults aged 18 and above	>13,700,000
			>23,600,000

 

The Coordinating Minister for PICK was quoted to have said the objective of PICK is to vaccinate 80% of the entire population of 32.75 million as part of the National Recovery Plan i.e the total number of Malaysians that the government is targeting to vaccinate is approximately 26.2 million.

 

Based on statistics from the Department of Statistics, the population according to age groups in Malaysia as at 1^st quarter of 2021 comprised of the following:-

 

Age Group	Population			Target Population to be Vaccinated
	Male	Female	Total
0 -14	3,900,000	3,660,000	7,560,000
15 – 64	11,790,000	11,030,000	22,820,000
>65	1,140,000	1,230,000	2,370,000	25,190,000
Total			32,750,000

 

In the US, the US FDA has just recently approved Pfizer vaccines for people of 12 years of age and older. Accordingly, as there is no approval or recommendation for those below 12 years to be vaccinated - we have 7.56 million Malaysians who are in the 0 to 14 age group - the total number of Malaysians that needs to be vaccinated i.e the target population, assuming 100% vaccination, is approximately 25 million only. If herd immunity is to be achieved, say 80% of the target population, the country needs to vaccinate no less than 20 million Malaysians.

 

As at 23 July 2021, the total number of Malaysians already registered for vaccination is 19,395,583.

 

Based on data revealed by the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV), 16.1 million vaccine doses had been administered as of 23 July 2021.

 

1	Total Registered under MySejahtera		19,395,583
2	Vaccinated with only 1 dose	11,019,676
3	Vaccinated with 2 dose	5,152,941	16,172,617
4	Total still waiting for their 1st dose {1- (2+3)}		3,222,966
5	Total waiting for their 2nd dose		11,019,676
6	Total Number Waiting for 1st and 2nd doses		14,242,642
	Target Population	25,190,000
	80% of Target Population		20,152,000

 

If the above assumption of Target Population is used, by vaccinating all the 19.39 mil Malaysians who have registered under MySejahtera, the country should be near achieving its herd immunity target of 20.15 mil people.

  

JKJAV had in a tweet on July 6, 2021, confirmed that the country will be receiving 14.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines in July 2021 comprising the following:-

    Million

Pfizer (inclusive of the donation of 1 million doses by US)	6.43
Astra Zeneca (AstraZeneca manufactured in Thailand and donation from Japan	1.59
Sinovac (from Pharmaniaga and donation from China)	6.38
Total doses to be received in July 2021	14.4

 

The total doses projected to be received in July are more than enough to complete vaccinating the 14,242,642 Malaysians that are waiting for the 1^st and 2^nd doses registered under MySejahtera.

 

The above number excludes the number of foreign workers in the country which according to the Malaysian Employer Federation (MEF), which cited data from the Employment Insurance System, there were about 1.38 million legal foreign workers in Malaysia as at the end of November 2020 with the number of illegal foreign workers in the country estimated to be more than triple the figure. Meaning, potentially, the country has between 1.3 million to 5 million foreign workers working and helping in our economy.

Thank you

Foo Lee Khean

2.  So who is hoarding the vaccines now?

Just recently the Minister accused the Mat Sallehs (European Union etc)  of hoarding the Covid 19 vaccines. That is why we were not getting enough, he said.

If so how come now we have surplus vaccines (surplus of 14 million doses) in the country which are going to be offloaded to the private hospitals, obviously for profit.

May I advise those private hospitals that are GLCs - you are owned by the people. Bukan duit bapak kau tau. Duit bapak kami. So be careful how and where you spend the peoples' money.

HERE IS SOME GENERAL ADVICE : THERE WILL BE ELECTIONS IN LESS THAN 24 MONTHS. THINGS ARE GETTING WORSE. THE GOVERNMENT WILL LIKELY BE THROWN OUT. SO BE CAREFUL. YOU DONT KNOW WHO WILL BE THE NEW GOVERNMENT. SILAP KIRA, MASUK KLUSTER MAHKAMAH NANTI. 

But who paid for the vaccines? The PM said that all of the Taxpayer's vaccine money has already been fully paid.  Meaning the rakyat money, taxpayers money has been used up.  

So if you say that some of those vaccines are going to be sold to the public who paid for those vaccines? Was it paid for using taxpayers funds? Can the relevant Minister throw some light on the matter?

And to who exactly does the Government pay our money? Siapakah geng bertuah yang dibayar duit rakyat itu?

Since there must be orang tengah or middlemen then who are they? 

And what do these middlemen contribute (in terms of value added) towards procuring the vaccine?

3.  Soalan  untuk Ismail Sabri

Since when is it the job function of the Deputy Prime Minister to make statements about commercial business of private companies? I am referring to Ismail Sabri's statements that: 

“They can also make reservations directly with Pharmaniaga and will be referred to JKJAV as the names of the recipients may have been duplicated or already received the vaccine.    “Maybe one of the conditions is to allow factories to reopen when more than 80% of their employees have completed two doses, and when we can sell the vaccine directly to these factories."

'and when we can sell the vaccine directly to these factories' ?

Hello brader, who exactly do you mean by "we"? "We" itu siapa pula?

"We can sell" ?? Sejak bila hang jadi 'vaccine seller' pula?  

That is why I am asking this question, if you the Deputy Prime Minister  are the seller, so who paid for the vaccines? 

If the vaccines were bought using public funds and you are now selling it to the public (especially the factories) then you are making the public pay twice lah.  

Hang faham tak? But who is making the profits? It cannot be the public. 

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.