KLUANG: The government will be concluding an agreement with AstraZeneca of the United Kingdom on Monday to purchase Covid-19 vaccines to meet the immunisation needs of 20% of the people in the country.
Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said this is the third agreement after the government signed with Covax to buy 10% of its vaccine needs and with Pfizer to cover 20% of Malaysia’s requirement last month.
“Overall, we will be purchasing vaccines for 50% of the people. We will try to get all vaccine supplies in the first quarter next year,” he told reporters after a symbolic handing over of the aerosol intubation box, contributed by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), to the health ministry in Simpang Renggam near here today.
Also present was UTM deputy vice-chancellor (Research and Innovation) Prof Ahmad Fauzi Ismail.
Adham said at the same time, the government has to meet another 20% of the vaccine needs to cover 70% of the population.
He said the government would look into attracting more vaccine suppliers to meet the needs of the country.
“What is important is that companies which give quick access to their vaccines ensure they are safe and of quality. They must also receive approval from the producing country as well as approval from our National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA).
“If it is concluded, we can vaccinate the first Malaysians, comprising frontliners, in early 2021,” he said.
The media today reported that the first batch of vaccines would be arriving in February 2021 with supplies continuing until the end of 2021.
On Nov 24, Malaysia announced that it would be acquiring its initial supply for 12.8 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer to meet 20% of its immunisation needs, or 6.4 million people, for free.
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