Deal inked with Pfizer for 12.8 million doses of vaccine, says PM

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin says Malaysia has signed an initial agreement with Pfizer to procure 12.8 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to immunise 6.4 million people or 20% of Malaysians.

He said the agreement, signed on Nov 24, was to ensure that the government has access to data to access the quality, safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.

“Through this agreement, Pfizer has pledged to deliver one million doses, 1.7 million doses, 5.8 million doses and 4.3 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine in the first, second, third and fourth quarters of 2021,” he said at a press conference today.

According to Bernama, he said Malaysia had also signed an agreement with the Covax Facility to procure Covid-19 vaccine for 10% of Malaysians.

Vaccination will be carried out in stages, with priority given to high-risk groups, he added.

He said it would be necessary for 18 million to 19 million people to be immunised against Covid-19. However, he added that there would be no compulsion for people to take the vaccine, which would only be given to those who want it of their own accord.

He also said that the vaccine would be administered to the people for free.

The Pfizer vaccine was the first to publish an early analysis from its Phase 3 trials involving 43,000 people worldwide.

Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech had earlier announced that an analysis of their experimental Covid-19 vaccine protected 95% of people against the disease.

They expect to produce 50 million doses this year and 1.3 billion by the end of 2021.

Malaysia has also been given priority to receive the Covid-19 vaccine from China.