Selangor occupies last place in race to fully vaccinate its population

 

Selangor was revealed to be the state with the lowest percentage of the total population who have received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, as of midnight of July 3.

Data released by the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) today showed that Selangor had only fully inoculated 5.2 percent of its total population against Covid-19, trailing behind the second-lowest state Sabah with 5.8 percent and the third-lowest Johor with 7.1 percent.

Selangor has been put under the spotlight recently, due to its slow vaccine rollout despite having the highest number of Covid-19 cases and deaths in the country.

Minister in charge of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) Khairy Jamaluddin had previously said the state is expected to be able to administer 130,000 shots a day in July, and the number of Covid-19 vaccines supplied to the state will also be ramped up accordingly.

It has since been reported that Selangor will receive more than four million Covid-19 vaccine doses in July. 

In order to use up all the doses supplied, vaccine centres in Selangor must dispense an average of 124,944 doses a day, with centres operating seven days a week.

According to CITF’s data, the state had administered an average of 40,965 doses per day in the last 14 days.

Previously, Khairy’s aide had also said Selangor’s Covid-19 vaccine utilisation rate was among the lowest in the country, at 75.2 percent. Khairy has since said he aims to increase this to 90 percent. 

The state had also launched its own state government vaccination initiative dubbed “Vaksin Selangor” or Selvax on June 30.

The initiative, which involves free and paid vaccines, is meant to complement the federal government’s NIP.

Through Selvax, 2.5 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine is expected to be administered to 1.25 million people in the state.

Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari had said they aim to fully vaccinate 80 percent of the adult population in Selangor by October 2021. - Mkini