No application yet, Khairy tells Anwar on Selangor’s plan for vaccine

Minister Khairy Jamaluddin today responded to claims by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim that the Selangor government had waited months for approval to procure vaccine doses, saying no official application had been made on the part of the state.

Khairy, who is in charge of the country’s vaccination programme, said he had responded positively to Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari on his plan to procure the vaccine for Selangor residents.

However, he said he had yet to receive an official application from the state government.

“Based on my discussion with the Selangor menteri besar, he made verbal mention of the state’s plan to buy the vaccines,” he said in a statement. “I gave a positive response.

“But I have yet to receive any official request from the state government.”

Anwar had said that the Selangor government, which is under Pakatan Harapan (PH), had waited months for approval to procure more than two million doses of vaccine for those in the state.

Khairy also welcomed Anwar’s call for an independent probe into the national immunisation programme and vaccine procurements, saying he is open to criticism and investigation.

He also reminded the PKR leader that the vaccine purchase contracts had been disclosed to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee on Jan 5.

“I also held an engagement session with MPs from the opposition bloc on March 19 at which I presented in detail the implementation of PICK, and answered a variety of questions,” he said, referring to the national vaccination programme.

“The opposition leader was not present at the session.”