KUALA LUMPUR – The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme officially began today with Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin being the first individual to receive the vaccine in the country at about 3.00 pm.
The implementation of the three-phase programme which started two days earlier than the original schedule of 26 February will see more than 500,000 frontliners receive the vaccine during its first phase by April.
Apart from Muhyiddin, Director-General of Health Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah and four other staff from the Ministry of Health will also be jabbed with Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine today at Present 11 Health Clinic, Putrajaya. It is also one of the 500 vaccination centres nationwide.
Last Sunday, on 21 February, 312,390 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived safely in Malaysia with some being flown to Kuala Lumpur and Penang while others were transported to Johor. The vaccine was brought in from Singapore, which is the distribution hub of the Covid-19 vaccine to Asia Pacific countries.
To date, 571,802 frontliners have been registered for the immunisation programme. 57.3% of them are medical and healthcare workers while the remaining 42.7% are members of the security force including the Malaysian Armed Forces, Royal Malaysia Police, People’s Volunteer Corporation, Prisons Department, Royal Malaysian Customs Department and the Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia.
The second phase of the programme will run from April to August involving senior citizens aged 60 years and above as well as vulnerable groups with morbidity issues and persons with disabilities. Meanwhile, the third phase is scheduled from May this year until February 2022 for those aged 18 years and above who have not been vaccinated earlier.
The programme aims to provide immunisation against the Covid-19 infection to about 80 percent of the country’s population, both locals and foreigners.
Malaysia has obtained 66.7 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine through the COVAX Facility from five manufacturers. The vaccines are Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, CanSinoBIO and Sputnik V.
As of 23 February 2021, 288,229 individuals have been infected by the disease since it was first reported in the country on 25 January last year. Malaysia has also recorded 1,076 Covid-19 deaths over the same period. -MalaysiaGazette
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