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SEPANG: The long-awaited Covid-19 vaccine to protect the population of Malaysia arrived in the country in a special plane (pix) that landed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) here today.
Flight MH604, with the Jalur Gemilang livery to symbolize the vaccine is for Malaysians, landed at 10:07 am with the first batch of 312,390 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The Passenger-to-Cargo (P2C) flight used an Airbus 330-300, operated by MAB Kargo Sdn Bhd (MASkargo), the cargo arm of the national airline Malaysia Airlines Bhd.
Upon landing, the KLIA Advanced Cargo Center (ACC) carried out the transfer process of the vaccine, which was placed in the unit loading device (ULD), from the cargo section of the aircraft to a truck belonging to to the logistics company DHL. .
Among those present to witness the historic moment were Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Adham Baba, National Covid-19 Immunization Program Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, and Transportation Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Wee Ka Siong.
Once the transfer process was completed, the police escorted the truck to a designated vaccine storage location as a security measure.
The vaccine journey from the Pfizer plant in Belgium was carried out by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer and DHL, a leader in the logistics industry, under a joint partnership for the international transport of the vaccine.
The vaccine left Puurs in Belgium and was in transit at Leipzig Halle Airport in Germany, before continuing its journey to Singapore for distribution to countries in Asia and the Pacific, including Malaysia.
The Ministry of Health (MOH), on behalf of the Malaysian government, entered into an agreement with Pfizer (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd on January 11 this year for the purchase of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The arrival of the vaccine will launch the National Covid-19 Immunization Program, the largest vaccination program ever carried out in the country.
As one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to use the vaccine, Malaysia, with a population of 32 million people, is hopeful that the immunization program will accelerate the country’s efforts to revive its economy and improve people’s lives. .
The vaccine has been certified as effective and approved by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) of the Ministry of Health.
The immunization program is divided into three phases, the first scheduled from February 26 to April for front-line personnel, including the Ministry of Health, the Malaysian Armed Forces, the Royal Malaysian Police, the Civil Defense Force and the Malaysian Volunteer Department (Rela).
MINSA has identified and prepared around 600 vaccination stations throughout the country, including health clinics and public and private hospitals. Each station will have seven vaccinators.
The second phase is scheduled from April to August for people aged 60 years and over and vulnerable groups with morbidity problems, as well as people with disabilities.
The third phase will be from May to February 2022 for those over 18 years of age.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is expected to receive the vaccine on the first day of the immunization exercise, February 26, along with several of the leaders.
The agreement with Pfizer (Malaysia) involves the purchase of 12,799,800 doses of vaccine, covering 20% of the population, with two doses per person.
The vaccination program, with the theme “Protect Yourself, Protect All”, is a government strategy to ensure that as many Malaysians as possible are vaccinated to break the chain of infection.
Since the first Covid-19 infection was reported in Malaysia on January 25, 2020, a total of 1,051 virus-related deaths have been reported as of yesterday.
A total of 280,272 people have been infected so far, but 244,753 have recovered.
-Called
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