Nearly three months into the Malaysia COVID-19 vaccine rollout, only around 500,000 Malaysians have received both doses of the two-shot vaccines.
Since the vaccination has brought the greatest hope to end a pandemic that has claimed 2 million lives and destroyed thousands of businesses and livelihood worldwide , many are hoping that the pace of the rollout will be accelerated so that they can receive their shots too as quickly as possible.
Phase one of the vaccine rollout programme in Malaysia was from February to April and it involved only frontliners and the elites.
As at Monday, a total of 1,018,937 doses of Covid-19 vaccine had been dispensed. This comprises 609,153 first doses and 409,784 second doses, according to the Health Ministry.
The second phase of the vaccine rollout will start on 19th April 2021. This phase is for senior citizens above 60 years old and those with chronic illnesses or disabilities.
The third and last phase is scheduled to begin in May and it involves low-risk individuals above 18 years old.
So far, as at Monday, a total of 8,602,156 people had registered for the vaccine.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin yesterday tweeted that by October Malaysia will have enough vaccines to cover 80% of the population.
He said that the national immunisation program “will certainly be completed before the end of the year. ”
The Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy (pic, right), who is also in charge of the country’s vaccination program, is aware that people are anxiously asking when will be their turn.
“There have been concerns expressed on Covid-19 vaccinations in Malaysia. People are wondering why the rate of vaccination seems slow.
“People who have registered in February are asking when they will get their appointments,” he said in a statement.
Khairy added the full mass vaccination is expected to take place only by June because the vaccine supply is still low and not enough as rich countries have already bought a lot for their people.
“One of the biggest reasons for low vaccine supplies in Malaysia and other middle-income countries is that rich countries have cornered the Covid-19 vaccines market.
“Some rich countries have bought enough vaccines for their citizens three to five times over. Many pharmaceutical companies give preference to rich countries for obvious reasons,” he said._ Malaysia World News
