KUALA LUMPUR, 13 April — Malaysian public can be assured that the country will have enough COVID-19 vaccines to cover 80 per cent of the public by October, said the Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin today.
The minister published a graph from the Special Committee on Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) which shows the scheduled delivery of the vaccines compared to the total number of registrations in Malaysia so far.
Yesterday (12 April), Khairy announced that the second phase of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme will include the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, as it was added to Malaysia’s vaccines portfolio.
The second phase of the vaccination programme starts on April 19, it includes people above the age of 60, along with high-risk groups who suffer from chronic diseases and comorbidities.
The Chinese vaccine Sinovac, along with the US’ Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are among the vaccines that will be used in the second phase of the immunisation programme, as the minister reassured the public that both vaccines are safe to use for everyone.
While Pfizer’s vaccine reportedly had a high efficacy rate, Khairy said that the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) had reviewed the data on the Sinovac vaccine and it also showed that it has a high efficacy rate against severe and moderate cases of Covid-19.
Source: Malay Mail/Bernama/Agencies
