THE government will be concluding an agreement with UK’s AstraZeneca on Monday to purchase COVID-19 vaccine to meet the immunisation needs of 20% of the people in the country.
Health Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said this is the third agreement after the government signed with COVAX to buy 10% of its vaccine need and with Pfizer to cover 20% of Malaysia’s requirement last month.
“On the overall, we will be purchasing vaccine for 50% of the people,” he told reporters after a symbolic handing over of Aerosol Intubation Box contribution by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) to the Ministry of Health (MOH) in Simpang Renggam near here today. “We will try to get all vaccine supplies in the first quarter next year.”
Dr Adham said at the same time, the government has to increase procurement for another 20% vaccine to meet the need of 70% of the people.
He said the government would look into attracting vaccine suppliers to meet the need of the country.
“What is important is that companies which gave quick access to their vaccines must ensure they are safe, and of quality. They must also receive approval from the producing country as well as approval from MOH’s National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA).
“If it is concluded, we can vaccinate the first Malaysians comprising frontliners in early 2021,” he said.
The media today reported that the first batch of vaccine would be arriving in February 2021 with supplies continuing until the end of 2021.
On Nov 24, Malaysia announced that it would acquiring its initial supply for 12.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer to meet 20% of its immunisation needs or 6.4 million people for free. – Dec 19, 2020
