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Khairy tells why he’s not taking Pfizer jab

The minister in charge of vaccine procurement is not among the key political leaders and individuals who have been administered the Pfizer vaccine.

Fazreen Kamal
1 minute read
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Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin at KLIA in Sepang to witness the arrival of the Coronavac vaccine by China's Sinovac today. Photo: Department of Information Malaysia
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin at KLIA in Sepang to witness the arrival of the Coronavac vaccine by China's Sinovac today. Photo: Department of Information Malaysia

Khairy Jamaluddin is not taking the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, which was the first to arrive in Malaysia and is currently being given to medical frontliners and government leaders under the first phase of the national vaccination programme.

Instead, the science, technology and innovation minister who is in charge of Putrajaya’s billion-ringgit vaccine procurement, said he would wait for other Covid-19 vaccine brands.

He said with key leaders including health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah receiving the Pfizer vaccine, there is more confidence among members of the public to sign up for vaccination.

But he said there could be doubts about the efficacy of other brands to be rolled out.

“So I have decided to take the next approved vaccine. I will be the first person to take whatever vaccine is approved next.

“I will not take the Pfizer vaccine,” he told reporters after witnessing the arrival of the CoronaVac vaccine from China at KLIA today.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin became the first to be given the Pfizer vaccine, as the government launched its massive vaccination drive which it hopes to conclude by the end of this year.

The CoronaVac vaccine by China’s Sinovac is the second batch of vaccines to arrive after Pfizer, with some 200 litres to be converted into more than 300,000 doses.

Malaysia has purchased 14 million doses of CoronaVac, to cover about one-fith of the population.