This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on May 31, 2021 - June 6, 2021

MALAYSIA, which is currently ramping up its vaccination efforts to flatten the Covid-19 infection curve, is expecting nearly 16 million more doses of vaccines in the next two months.

National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin told the media that the additional vaccines expected to arrive by July include 2.2 million doses of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, 12 million doses of Sinovac vaccine and 1.2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Meanwhile, Khairy said the government intends to expedite the vaccination programme to achieve herd immunity, which is to have 80% of the population receive the vaccine jabs.

“We are hoping to achieve 150,000 jabs a day in June,” he said at a virtual media briefing on May 27.  This will be double the May average of 70,000 doses a day.

In view of the overwhelming response to voluntarily receiving Astra-Zeneca vaccines, Khairy said the government has decided not to offer the vaccine on a voluntary opt-in basis anymore.

As of May 27, Malaysia had administered 2.711 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines since March, of which 1.726 million people had received the first dose while 985,603 had completed the second jab.

The minister revealed that the government is mulling over letting the public choose the vaccine they want and the venue and date to receive it.

“On the choice of vaccines, we are still working out the method on how we will do this, it will be done through MySejahtera,” he said, adding that the process in the app is easier compared with the website.

“We are working on a few options right now, and will probably announce that in the next couple of weeks.”  

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