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PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced that the government signed an agreement with the pharmaceutical company Pfizer on November 24 to purchase 12.8 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
According to an NST report, Muhyiddin said one million doses would be administered in the first quarter of next year, followed by 1.7 million, 5.8 million and 4.3 million doses in the second, third and fourth quarters of 2021, respectively.
The government will use this to immunize a total of 6.4 million Malaysians for free, but foreigners must pay a fee to be determined by the Ministry of Health.
“Vaccination will be carried out in phases and will prioritize high-risk groups that are most susceptible to Covid-19,” Muhyiddin said, adding that this included those who were on the front line, the elderly, and patients with non-communicable diseases.
However, he said the company still required approval from the US Food and Drug Administration and the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) before it could be used in Malaysia.
Muhyiddin added that the Ministry of Health also signed an agreement with the Covax Facility to obtain Covid-19 vaccines for another 10% of Malaysia’s population.
He said the ministry was preparing to begin phase three of clinical vaccine research in collaboration with China, in which a vaccine was being developed at the Institute of Medical Biology of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.
“The government also assures all Malaysians that the vaccines used in Malaysia will meet the strict conditions set by NPRA,” he said. “We will never compromise on this.”
In a tweet, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the first million doses would be used to vaccinate 500,000 front-line people, followed by those categorized as high-risk and then the general population.
“With the Covax facility and the Pfizer agreement, we now have doses for 30% of our population.
“The Minister of Health, Dr. Adham Baba, and I are working hard to close new deals and secure doses for up to 70% of our population,” said Khairy.
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