PUTRAJAYA (Malaysia), May 4 (NNN-Bernama) — The allegations that the vaccination rate in Malaysia is slow and low are not true as the vaccination jabs are done according to the supply delivery schedule, said National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
He said that the country had, so far, received a total of 1,938,660 doses of the Pfizer, Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines, of which 1,453,382 doses had been inoculated.
“So, this shows that the utilisation rate of vaccines received in the country is 75 per cent… if it’s only 10 per cent, then yes it’s slow. As such, this is not about the low vaccination rate and it’s not like we do not want to swiftly vaccinate the public, the issue is that the supply is sent according to schedule,” he said at a joint media conference with Health Minister Dr Adham Baba on the development of the immunisation programme Monday.
He said another 25 per cent of the vaccines had been reserved for vaccine appointments arranged based on the delivery schedule.
“We will push it out all the way to 80 per cent after the raya (Hari Raya Aidlifitri) because there is currently a constraint due to a spike in COVID-19 cases, curtailment of workforce and so on. When more vaccine supplies arrive, we will mobilise them for Malaysians to be inoculated… there is no question of keeping the vaccines and so on,” he said.
Meanwhile, Khairy said they are working with the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development to encourage unlicensed elderly care homes to come forward and register the elderly under their care for the immunisation programme.
“We have given an assurance that no action will be taken during the course of the immunisation programme and we encourage them to register,” he said.
