PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin today announced that he will be among the first individuals to receive the Covid-19 vaccine once it is available next year.
Speaking on the recent Covid-19 developments in a Facebook video, Muhyiddin said this was to reassure the public that the vaccines obtained were safe and effective to use.
He also confirmed that the government had signed an agreement with AstraZeneca of the UK to procure another 6.4 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
It will meet the immunisation needs of another 10% of the population, making it the third agreement after the government signed with Covax to buy 10% of its vaccine needs and Pfizer to cover 20% of Malaysia’s requirement last month.
“This means vaccines for 40% of the people have been purchased through Covax, Pfizer and AstraZeneca.
“The government is also now in the final stages of negotiations with Sinovac, CanSino and Gamaleya to acquire more vaccines to cover 80% of the population, or 26.5 million people,” he said, adding that the government would be spending a total of RM2.05 billion on procurement.
According to Muhyiddin, agreements with the three companies would add value to the country’s science and technology sector, which will contribute to Malaysia’s development in the long run.
He also said Putrajaya was planning to conduct negotiations with more pharmaceutical companies to ensure there will be sufficient supply of free vaccines for all Malaysians.
Muhyiddin added that the special Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Committee, which is co-chaired by Health Minister Dr Adham Baba and Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, were working to ensure the vaccines could be obtained as soon as possible.
The first one million doses are expected to arrive earliest by February next year, he said. It will be given out to target groups, namely frontliners, the elderly and those with non-communicable diseases.
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