KOTA KINABALU: Khairy Jamaluddin says the next three months will be the busiest and most crucial for the country’s immunisation programme as large supplies of vaccines arrive in Malaysia.
The national Covid-19 immunisation programme (PICK) coordinating minister said the coming months will see the nation handle its biggest supply of vaccines thus far.
“In July alone, we expect to receive more than 12 million doses.
“To put that into context, to date we have cumulatively administered around eight million doses since February,” he said, in a video released by PICK today.
“So, this is going to be an extremely busy month for us as we ramp up capacity across the country.”
Khairy said Malaysia was also thankful to have received AstraZeneca vaccines from Japan, adding that the US and China would also be making contributions soon.
“We need all of you to make the next few crucial months a success. When you get your appointments, go and get vaccinated.
“Encourage friends and families who have not registered to do so. Share verified information about vaccines and volunteer at PPVs (vaccination centres) if you can. Please continue to follow the SOPs.
“The next few months are everything. We need to, more than ever, come together and win together. Let’s do this,” he said.
Khairy said the nation’s immunisation programme had made significant progress, with the daily vaccination rate for June almost reaching 170,000, surpassing the previous daily vaccination target of 150,000.
He said the country is vaccinating people at a higher rate daily per capita than the world average.
“We are now consistently vaccinating 250,000 people a day and target to reach a monthly average of 300,000 a day in July.”
Khairy also said that at the end of May, only 5.9% of the population had received at least one dose but that number had now reached 18%.
“That’s a 200% increase in June alone. Vaccinating the most vulnerable members of our society has been a priority for us.”
Khairy also said so far more than 60% of senior citizens who had registered for vaccination had received at least one dose, adding the government hoped to complete vaccinating its elderly population this month.
Meanwhile, he said the government is also working hard to secure the delivery of the Cansino vaccine this month, adding the single dose vaccine will be invaluable in states with communities in the interior and hard-to-access areas.
He added that this vaccine would also be convenient to administer to the refugee community who will also be vaccinated under PICK.
In order for the country to meet the challenges of the coming months, he said the government had increased its vaccination capacity by opening up more PPVs of all types as well as by deploying more healthcare workers and volunteers.
“Currently, we have more than 1,400 PPVs across the country.
“We have PPVs in all shapes and sizes — pop-up PPVs in Orang Asli villages, in places of worship, schools, universities, community halls, places of work and even restaurants.
“More than 1,500 GP (general practitioner) clinics and 120 private hospitals will also be operating as PPVs, increasing accessibility for everyone,” Khairy said.
He said the government would also be expanding the vaccination programme for essential economic sectors that are operating during Phase 1 of the national recovery plan.
The focus will be on the manufacturing, transport, construction and plantation sectors first, with a target of vaccinating at least 300,000 workers over the next few weeks.
On the prevalence of the Delta variant in Malaysia, he said the government would continue to draw on real world data on vaccine effectiveness against this and possibly other emerging variants.
“Like many other countries, we are studying whether a third booster dose might be necessary.
“We need to accept that Covid-19 is most probably endemic, possibly requiring regular vaccination, much like the flu jab in certain countries,” he said. - FMT
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