FOLLOWING Sultan of Selangor’s rebuke on Putrajaya over unequal vaccine distribution, the Selangor Task Force for COVID-19 (STFC) thanked the monarch for his timely gesture.
“We appreciate His Majesty’s intervention on the matter. STFC has been complaining about the disproportionate vaccine distribution to the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) for some time, with little success.
“Thank you, Your Highness, for recognising our effort and reprimanding the relevant parties,” its chief Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad told FocusM.
Earlier today, Malaysiakini reported Selangor ruler, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah expressing shock at the low and “unfair” number of COVID-19 vaccines supplied to the state.
In a statement signed by his private secretary Datuk Mohamad Munir Bani, he said Sultan Sharafuddin believed that the present supply was insufficient for Selangor’s population and urged JKJAV to work on improving vaccine distribution.
“His Majesty is upset to see the number of COVID-19 cases in Selangor on the rise, with cumulative positive cases at 203,520 as of Jun 7, on top of high death toll.
“His Majesty was also shocked to hear that Selangor only received 615,210 of vaccine doses as of Jun 1, not 2.9 million doses as previously claimed.
“He stressed it is not fair as the ratio of the vaccine doses given does not match the total population in Selangor, which is 6.5 million,” Munir was reported saying.
Two-pronged approach needed
Echoing His Majesty’s sentiments, Dzulkefly said Putrajaya should consider the fact that Selangor is densely populated, with the state government aggressively embarking on mass testing for COVID-19.
The former health minister added that a total lockdown must be accompanied with mass screening process, in order quickly detect and quarantine those infected with COVID-19.
“It’s important for us to detect cases, especially asymptomatic ones and isolate them for proper medical care,” Dzulkefly opined.
On that note, Dzulkefly said that the Government should focus on a two-pronged approach to contain the pandemic; which are speeding up the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) and increasing testing capacity at the same time.
“If you take UK and the US, they were lagging behind in the pandemic control last year while we were doing very well.
“But now, they have improved a lot using the two-pronged approach but Malaysia, as well as other Southeast Asia countries are struggling. The reason is because we claimed victory too soon,” he stated.
Dzulkefly added: “Until we achieve herd immunity, we need to also embark on active case detection (ACD) and passive case detection (PCD).
“ACD is about actively seeking people in the community, test and isolate then before a cluster is formed while PCD is testing those who come to healthcare facilities for screening.” – June 8, 2021
