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All Klang Valley residents are expected to receive at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the beginning of August, and will complete both doses by the end of the month, said Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah
Dr Noor Hisham said this ambitious target of fully vaccinating the Klang Valley by next month can be achieved when considering the current rates of vaccination, according to a report by Bernama.
“Currently, more than 3.1 million individuals in the Klang Valley have had their first vaccine shots, and the more than five million doses would be administered soon,” he shared during a special press conference Thursday, 15 July.
The Klang Valley is the largest metropolitan area in Malaysia, covering the capital of Kuala Lumpur and surrounding cities and towns in the state of Selangor. The total population of these two states is estimated to be around 8.4 million residents.
Dr Noor Hisham receiving his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on February 24 this year.
Image via Muzaffar Kasim/New Straits Times
Citing the success of Labuan, Dr Noor Hisham said that increasing vaccination rates can lead to a significant reduction in new cases and hospital admissions
“Two weeks after implementing the health measures and vaccination programme in Labuan, 87% of its population received their first dose, while 52% were fully vaccinated”, said Dr Noor Hisham.
“Today we can see that new COVID-19 cases in Labuan have decreased, dropping to only 26 new cases.”
He said that this change in dropped cases was drastic, as before the vaccination drive Labuan reported 1,340 cases of the Delta variant in just one week. This led to bed usage at intensive care units (ICUs) reaching 120%.
“The spike in cases previously required the addition of 22 beds, the setting up of a field hospital, as well as a Low Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centre (PKRC) in the island,” he exclaimed.
Currently, the Health DG said, Labuan ICU cases have dropped to 55%, and that only nine out of 22 beds allocated for COVID-19 patients are occupied.
Labuan had drastically reduced their number of new COVID-19 cases after a mass vaccination campaign.
Image via Bernama/Astro Awani
Relatedly, the Health DG also stated that Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines will be administered at vaccination centres (PPVs) nationwide starting next month, replacing Sinovac
Dr Noor Hisham stated that the American-made vaccine would be replacing all the Chinese vaccines previously administered at PPVs as the government has ordered significantly more of the former.
“Apart from Kelantan, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will also be used nationwide since we have booked 45.7million doses of that vaccine. (This is) compared to 16 million of Sinovac doses,” he revealed.