KUALA LUMPUR: The government aims to inoculate about 60 per cent of the population by the end of September, said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
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Khairy, which is also the Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme (NIP) coordinating minister, said the government was putting together all resources to achieve the vaccination target.
“The government has set a target of administering 150,000 vaccines shots per day in June before increasing it to 200,000 shots a day by July.
“We have reached this target ahead of schedule with 215,000 shots on June 15,” he said at the launch of the 24th Malaysia Economic Monitor, Weathering the Surge, here today.
As of June 19, 4.08 million individuals, covering 12.5 per cent of the population, have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, with 1.58 million already receiving the full two doses.
“The government is confident of administering 11 million doses in July, 13 million doses by the end of August, and a further 8.0 million doses by the end of September,” added Khairy.
Meanwhile, Khairy said the World Bank has the responsibility to bring the voice of the developing world in raising the hoarding of vaccines by the industrialised countries to address the global vaccine inequity.
“We are appreciative of the donations we are receiving from the advanced countries in the coming weeks. But then it does not do away with what has taken place in the last few months, that is, the cornering of the vaccine market,” he said.
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Khairy said the government has set up COVAX in global solidarity to ensure vaccine equity, citing that the World Bank owes it to developing countries to be a strong voice on vaccines equity at the global stage.
“This is to remind the rich advanced countries – that what has taken place in a few months – has fallen short of respectable and responsible global leadership.
“We call for vaccine equity now, and in the future, that is the only way we are going to emerge from this pandemic and future pandemic,” he said.
Khairy said the government is rapidly increasing the number of vaccination centres to speed up the rollout of the immunisation programme with the set up of several mega vaccination centres to ramp up the vaccination rate.
“We target an additional 1,000 general practitioners from the private sector to start administering vaccines by the end of this month and next month, as we continuously increase the number of vaccination centres.
“We will be bringing in retired health workers, housemen and medical students to increase our workforce.
“In addition, we now have activated mobile units to vaccinate those who have mobility issues. Our goal is to be as inclusive as possible in our deployment of the vaccination programme,” he added.-NST