The vaccine minister says that Malaysia aims to achieve herd immunity by Feb 2022, with a target of 160,000 daily doses administered during the second and third phase of the Covid-19 vaccination programme.
By CodeBlue | 10 March 2021
KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 — Vaccine Minister Khairy Jamaluddin today encouraged the private sector to procure Covid-19 vaccines approved by local pharmaceutical regulators, paving the way for a potential parallel vaccine rollout by private health care providers.
Khairy was responding to a statement on Facebook by former Prime Minister Najib Razak, who asked the government to state clearly if private clinics and hospitals are able to purchase their own supply of Covid-19 vaccines, as currently there is mixed information on the involvement of private health care providers in the inoculation drive.
Najib pointed out that on March 6, Science, Technology, and Innovation Deputy Minister Ahmad Amzad Hashim said that although there were requests from the private sector to purchase Covid-19 vaccines through the government, the priority for the government is still to get adequate supply of vaccines for 80 per cent of the population.
“With regards to the purchase of vaccines by the private sector, as I have mentioned yesterday, most of the vaccine manufacturers only carry out negotiations with governments,” Khairy responded to Najib in a comment on his Facebook post.
“If Dato’ Sri still doesn’t want to believe, I cannot do anything, I leave it up to Dato’ Sri.
“But if there are private parties who are able to carry out negotiations with vaccine manufacturers, especially those that have received approval from the NPRA (National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency) (Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Sinovac), please do so. I really welcome it,” added the science, technology and innovation minister.
Previously, Malaysian-based pharmaceutical company Pharmaniaga Bhd announced that it planned to sell some of its Sinovac vaccine doses to the private sector. Pharmaniaga is undertaking the fill-and-finish processing of Sinovac’s vaccine.
Solution Biologics, the distributor of Chinese CanSino’s vaccine, has also expressed plans to supply private health care providers with the vaccine, on top of selling 3.5 million doses to the Malaysian government.
Private hospitals have previously urged the government to allow a parallel private Covid-19 vaccine rollout, with doses independently procured by private facilities, in order to expedite Malaysia’s vaccination coverage. As such, private health care providers have urged NPRA to quickly approve other Covid-19 vaccines authorised in other countries, such as Moderna.
Khairy highlighted today that Malaysia targets to achieve herd immunity by February 2022, as mentioned in the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) guideline.
He said that during the second and third phase of PICK, since the target number of daily doses administered will have to be raised up to 160,000, the Ministry of Health will increase the number of vaccinators to 7,000.
“With 7,000, we are able to achieve a number of more than 160,000. But we don’t want to over-promise as we are aware that vaccine supply will be sent over in stages,” Khairy told Najib.
As Najib has raised multiple issues on the Covid-19 vaccine rollout several times on his Facebook page, Khairy invited Najib to a briefing on PICK, along with all other Members of Parliament.
“I hope Dato’ Sri comes for the briefing. Dato’ Sri can ask directly and I am ready to answer. After that, Dato’ Sri can share the truth to Dato’ Sri’s Facebook readers.”
Malaysia Lists Covid-19 Vaccination Priority Groups
By Boo Su-Lyn | 05 March 2021
MOH lists priority groups for Covid-19 vaccination with the Pfizer vaccine, conditions when one should postpone getting a shot, and contraindications.
59
KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) has prepared a list of priority groups for Covid-19 vaccination, ahead of the second phase of the national rollout targeting the elderly and people with comorbidities.
Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said the priority groups in MOH’s “Guidelines for Covid-19 Vaccination: Criteria to Consider Before Vaccination Using Comirnaty Vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech)” updated March 2, as sighted by CodeBlue, are not listed according to the order of when they will get the vaccine. It is simply a list.
“The prepared guidelines are a reference for medical professionals in evaluating one’s suitability to receive the vaccine,” Dr Adham told CodeBlue yesterday.
“However, the numbers in the list are not the order of priority. It’s just a list; same priority.”
MOH guidelines state that individuals in the priority groups should consult their treating clinician before getting the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. These are the priority groups as follows:
MOH guidelines state that Covid-19 vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech shot should be deferred or postponed in these conditions:
MOH guidelines, which recommend the Pfizer-BioNTech jab for adults aged 18 and above, list three contraindications, or conditions when one should not take the vaccine:
The MOH guidelines also say everyone who gets a Covid-19 vaccine should be monitored on site. People who have history of allergy or who have had any type of immediate allergic reaction to a vaccine therapy should be monitored for at least 30 minutes after getting the vaccine.
All other people should be monitored for at least 15 minutes after getting the vaccine.
Vaccination providers should have appropriate medications and equipment such as epinephrine, antihistamines, stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs, and timing devices and access to emergency trolley at all Covid-19 vaccination sites.
The government has scheduled the second phase of the national Covid-19 vaccination programme starting April, targeting 9.4 million people aged 60 years and above and those with underlying health conditions.
