KUALA LUMPUR (July 3): The next three months will be the busiest and most crucial period for Malaysia's immunisation programme as the country is set to receive a large part of its vaccine supply while it ramps up its vaccination capacity across the country, said National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
More than 12 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine are due to arrive in July, Khairy said. "To put this into context, we have administered around eight million doses since February," said Khairy in a video update shared via Twitter today.
Based on data revealed by the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV) earlier today, a total of 8.58 million vaccine doses had been administered as of yesterday (July 2).
So far, 2.46 million Malaysians representing 7.5% of the population had been fully vaccinated. As for those who had received their first jab, they numbered 6.12 million or 18.7%. That was up more than 200% from the 5.89% who got their first dose as at end-May, said Khairy, as the average daily vaccination rate for June came in at almost 170,000 doses — surpassing the targeted 150,000 shots.
Malaysia was vaccinating people at a higher daily rate per capita than the world average, said Khairy, by consistently vaccinating 250,000 a day. The target is a monthly average of 300,000 a day in July.
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"So, this is going to be an extremely busy month for us as we ramp up capacity across the country," he added.
The government is also working hard to secure the CanSino vaccine this month, he said.
"Not only is this vaccine safe and effective, it is a single-dose vaccine. The CanSino vaccine will be invaluable in states with communities living in the interior and hard-to-access areas. It will also be convenient to be given to the refugee community, who will also be vaccinated under our national programme," he added.
Meanwhile, following the receipt of Japan's contribution of one million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, Khairy said Malaysia will soon be getting contributions from both the US and China. It was previously reported that China would contribute 500,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine to help bolster Malaysia's vaccination roll-out, while the US would donate one million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
To meet the challenge of the coming months, Khairy said the government had increased its vaccination capacity by opening up more vaccination centres (PPVs) of all types — there are now a total of 1,400 PPVs operating across the country — and by deploying more healthcare workers and other volunteers.
"More than 1,500 GP (general practitioner) clinics and 120 private hospitals will also be operating as PPVs, increasing accessibility to anyone who wants to be vaccinated," he said.
The government, which is also expanding the vaccination programme to the essential economic sectors that are allowed to operate during Phase 1 of the National Recovery Plan, will be focusing on the manufacturing, transport, construction and plantation sectors first, said Khairy, with a target of vaccinating at least 300,000 workers over the next few weeks.
"We need all of you to make the next few crucial months a success. When you get your appointment, go and get vaccinated. Encourage your friends and family members who have not registered to do so. Share verified information about the vaccines. Volunteer at PPVs if you can. We will make details on how to help out available, and please continue to follow the SOPs (standard operating procedures).
"The next few months are everything. We need to more than ever come together and win together. Let's do this," he added.