Health ministry in talks with Pfizer to get another 30% vaccine supply

The health ministry is in talks with pharmaceutical company Pfizer to obtain another 30% supply of Covid-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, produced by Pfizer-BioNTech.

Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said the additional amount would cover 50% of Malaysia’s population.

The National Covid-19 Immunisation Plan Programme will be implemented earlier as the country is expected to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine earlier, he said at press conference today.

Adham was previously reported to have said that Malaysia would receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine a week earlier before the first phase of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Plan begins on Feb 26.

On Jan 11, the agreement for the delivery of the first phase of the Covid-19 Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was signed between the government, through the health ministry, and Pfizer (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.

The agreement involves the procurement of 12,799,800 doses of vaccine that will be supplied from the end of February, to cover 20% of Malaysia’s population with two doses per person.

Adham said the supply would enable early shots to be given to vaccinators who would be placed at 600 locations.

He said seven personnel would be stationed at each location adding that the ministry was targeting 120,000 people to receive the vaccine per day.

On measures taken by the ministry to ensure the smooth running of the programme, Adham said it had conducted an online survey in December last year and found that 67% of the 200,000 respondents agreed to take the vaccine.

He said 17% of the respondents said they were unsure and 16% of them rejected the vaccine.

“The ministry has carried out several efforts to convince those who are unsure to take the vaccine,” he added.