EARLY VACCINATION CHEER
KJ: PM will be first to receive jab, two days ahead of schedule
The national battle against Covid-19 has received a boost with the immunisation programme to start on Wednesday, two days ahead of schedule. There are also plans to issue special ‘passports’ to Malaysians who have been immunised to enable overseas travel.
JAYA: The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme will begin on Wednesday, two days ahead of schedule.
It was initially scheduled to roll out on Friday.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who gave the latest update, said Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin would set the ball rolling by being the first to be vaccinated at Klinik Kesihatan Putrajaya after chairing the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Next would be Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, he added.
“We can begin making early preparations to start the immunisation programme following the arrival of the vaccine.
“The decision is to bring forward the start of the programme,” he told a press conference at Kuala Lumpur International Airport following the arrival of the first batch of PfizerBioNTech vaccines yesterday.
Also present were Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong and Dr Noor Hisham.
Asked why the start of the immunisation programme was brought forward, Khairy said this was done after considering several factors with regard to the safety and distribution of the vaccine.
“Instead of waiting until Friday, the Prime Minister agreed that the immunisation against Covid-19 can begin on Wednesday,” he said.
Khairy said the first batch of 312,390 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines would be administered to 271,802 frontliners, 57.3% of whom would comprise medical personnel and the rest non-medical frontliners.
He said the first batch of vaccines was to be distributed to 16 vaccine storage centres yesterday – four in Johor, two in Penang, six in Selangor, three in Kuala Lumpur and one in Putrajaya.
He said the remaining PfizerBioNTech vaccines would arrive in batches every fortnightly.
Khairy also said the government would continue with its two-dose policy under the immunisation programme although a study showed that a single dose of the PfizerBioNTech vaccine had up to 85% efficacy against the virus.
“But we have yet to study the data on this and the Covid-19 vaccine committee has decided to remain with the two-dose policy,” he said.
He said the second dose would be administered 21 days after the first one as recommended by the vaccine manufacturer.
The Pfizer vaccines will be sufficient to immunise some 50% of the country’s population.
As of February, Malaysia has access to a supply of 66.7 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines through the Covax Facility and early purchases from five manufacturers.
The programme will involve the immunisation of 70% of the population under three phases, starting with frontliners from now till April.
The second phase is from April to August for those in high-risk groups, while the third phase from May to February 2022 are for adults aged 18 and above.
PETALING JAYA: An enhanced movement control order has been imposed in Hilir Perak, with 185 people testing positive at the Central Medicare construction site, factory and dormitory there, says Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
The enhanced MCO is from today until March 7.
“After a risk analysis was conducted, the government agreed to the enhanced MCO.
“This will make it easier for the Health Ministry to conduct mass testing on 2,808 workers there while also controlling the spread of infection within the community,” he said.
He added that the enhanced MCO at the Taiping Prison and staff quarters would end on schedule today.
On mandatory screening of foreign workers yesterday, Ismail Sabri said 13,998 foreigners had undergone screening and from the total, 52 were found positive.
“Cumulatively, the Human Resources Ministry announced 426,923 foreign workers had been screened for Covid-19 involving 20,752 employers, in which 7,778 people were confirmed positive while 419,145 others were negative,” he added.