INSTEAD of directly contributing COVID-19 vaccine doses or making solely cash contribution, Bursa Malaysia’s ACE Market-listed Kanger International Bhd has chosen the “hybrid” route to assist the Sabah state government to combat the pandemic outbreak.
The company through its executive director Steven Kuah Choon Ching has today presented a cheque of RM200,000 to Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor for the good cause.
Additionally, Kuah added that Kanger also pledges to donate 5,000 doses of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine to Sabah for free. (Editor’s Note: The National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) has thus far approved three vaccine types, namely Pfizer/BioNTech, Oxford/AstraZeneca and China’s Sinovac.)
“The state of Sabah has been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, Sabah has reported close to 60,000 COVID-19 cases, the second highest number of cases in Malaysia by state after Selangor,” commented Kuah at a media conference after the cheque handover ceremony. “The total number of deaths are also the second highest at over 450.”
Kanger is currently in the process of obtaining approvals for the distribution of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines in Malaysia and is exploring opportunities within the state of Sabah.
The Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines have received approval for use in 42 countries worldwide and more than 200 million doses have been supplied globally.
Kanger’s vaccine donation pledge brings to mind the frustration of mystery vaccine donor Yong Chee Kong whose vaccine donation pledge of two million doses of Sinovac vaccine to the Penang state government was met with bureaucratic complication at the Federal Government level for approval.
While this is perhaps understandable, Yong has revealed that he was contacted by a special officer to minister in charge of COVID-19 immunisation coordination Khairy Jamaluddin on the possibility of channelling funds instead to the ministry and holding a ceremony over the contributions. – May 21, 2021
