MALAYSIA is on track to receive the first batch of vaccine delivery before the end of February 2021 and priority will be given to front liners senior citizens and people with chronic illnesses, said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin in his blog post.
According to Khairy, the timeline was agreed upon in the Government’s contract with Pfizer since November 2020.
This will still place the country as one of the fastest in Asia Pacific to get access to the vaccines.
Khairy pointed out that while the first batch of vaccine is expected to arrive end-February, it does not mean that elections in March can still be carried out with the assumption that Malaysians will already be inoculated by then.
On this, he stated: “No country receives their entire order in one shot. The delivery is staggered based on a quarterly schedule. We will receive one million doses (of Pfizer vaccines) in 1Q 2021, 1.7 million doses in 2Q, 5.8 million doses in 3Q and 4.3 million doses in 4Q.
“The delivery of our orders with other manufacturers will also be staggered. This is the reality of global manufacturing capacity for COVID-19 vaccines and demand outstripping supply.”
Khairy stated that Malaysia’s vaccination plan will span up to 18 months.
Meanwhile, neighbours Singapore and Indonesia have already started their vaccination programmes.
“Singapore was able to ‘place bets’ on vaccine candidates earlier because of greater resources,” he stated in his blog post dated Jan 14, 2021. “I am sure they entered into advanced purchase agreements at premium prices ahead of publication of interim trial data.”
Meanwhile, Indonesia became one of the first countries outside of China to authorise the use of Sinovac vaccines as the country conducted phase three clinical trials for Sinovac.
“(Indonesia) was able to approve Sinovac because they already had clinical data from their own trials,” Khairy said.
He added that Malaysia could not be included in Sinovac’s Phase III trial programme as the trials started last year when the nation’s positive cases and infectivity rates were low.
Clinical trials needed high infectivity rates in order to be successful.
While many other developed countries have already received their vaccines, Khairy assures that Malaysia is not slow in receiving vaccines.
“(Other developed countries) have paid a lot to corner the market even before the availability of safety and efficacy data. But we are certainly not laggards,” he said.
The minister added that the Government will only go through with the Sinovac vaccine procurement pending review of the clinical trial data.
“There have been some concerns about the data announcement from Sinovac’s trial in Brazil. (But) whatever the decision, I assure you that we will only get vaccines that are safe and efficacious for Malaysians,” he said.
Despite that, Khairy hopes that Malaysians will be ‘nimble and flexible’ to re-adjust its vaccine portfolio if needed, as more clinical data is announced and published.
“Until and unless we can get to meaningful herd immunity where as many people are vaccinated as possible with effective vaccines, we will still need non-pharmaceutical interventions. This means face masks, physical distancing and good personal hygiene will be part of our daily lives even when we roll out the vaccines,” he ended. – Jan 15, 2021
