Khairy Jamaluddin
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia would no longer adopt the previous ‘one dose, one dose reserve’ policy to speed up the vaccination process under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, said National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
He said existing vaccine doses would be fully used as the government was satisfied with the delivery schedule of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine by the manufacturer that would enable Phase 1 of the immunisation exercise to be completed ahead of schedule.
“As of this week, we have lifted the policy of ‘one dose, one reserve” and we roll the doses and don’t have to wait for new delivery in order to release the doses.
“With that, we are able to finish Phase 1 earlier and can start Phase 2 earlier as well. The vaccination rate at present can go as high as 20,000 a day based on delivery of the vaccine,” he said at a press conference on the development of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme here yesterday with Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba.
Khairy said he would hold a meeting with Dr Adham to determine the date for Phase II of the immunisation programme, which would then be announced next week.
Khairy said so far, a total of 847,630 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinovac Covid-19 vaccines had been shipped to Malaysia.
He also said 428,710 individuals had been inoculated under Phase 1 of the national immunisation exercise.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme was launched on Feb 24 by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who received the first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine. — Bernama
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