Vaccine supply schedule among factors for delay in rollout in Perak

 

The arrival of Covid-19 vaccine supplies not according to schedule is one of the factors that caused the delay in vaccine rollout in Perak, said Menteri Besar Saarani Mohamad.

“The term not enough vaccine is not accurate because the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry had promised to give us 688,000 doses in July, but we received 820,000 doses. That means more than promised, only the arrival was not as scheduled.

“It is also subject to the vaccine supply schedule from foreign suppliers," Saarani (above) told the state legislative assembly meeting when replying to a supplementary question from Yahaya Mat Nor (Harapan-Pasir Panjang) today.

To speed up the vaccination process in high-density areas, Saarani said the existing public vaccination centres (PPV) had been upgraded to a higher daily capacity in addition to the setting up of drive-through vaccination centres as well as the mobile outreach programmes.

Perak has 22 public PPVs, six drive-through PPVs, 14 mobile PPVs, eight special PPVs, one Integration PPV (public and private), one non-governmental organisation (NGO) PPV, one Institute of Higher Education PPV, 15 private hospital PPVs, 150 Medical Practitioners PPVs and eight PPVs under the Public-Private Partnership Covid-19 Industry Immunisation Programme with a capacity of administering between 40,000 and 45,000 doses per day.

“The state government plans to set up 12 more new PPVs and upgrade three existing PPVs,” he said.

For rural areas, Saarani said community outreach programmes were conducted targeting communities or residents in Felda and Felcra as well as the Orang Asli community.

He said that Perak is expected to achieve 80 percent herd immunity by October and complete the entire vaccination programme in November, subject to vaccine supply.

As of Tuesday, a total of 1,118,358 people or 60.04 per cent had received the first dose while 797,317 people or 42.81 per cent had completed the second dose.

- Bernama