KUALA LUMPUR – The launch of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today can be likened to a shot in the arm for Malaysia’s year-long battle against the pandemic.
Reflecting the government’s seriousness in using vaccination as an additional strategy to fight the pandemic, the prime minister himself took the first shot of the vaccine to roll out the programme.
The vaccine is offered free to the people, locals and foreigners alike, and inoculation is on a voluntary basis.
The immunisation exercise came on the heels of various forms of movement restrictions and standard operating procedure (SOP) imposed to curb the spread of the virus, which has battered the economy and claimed almost 2.5 million lives worldwide.
Muhyiddin received his first shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the Putrajaya Health Office in Precinct 11 here this afternoon.
Health director-general Tan Sri Noor Hisham Abdullah, a familiar face in Malaysia’s COVID-19 war, and four personnel of the Health Ministry (MOH) also took their vaccine shots today.
The four MOH staff are Dr Tan Yee Ling, Sheilla Mellissa Sikin, Khairul Asraf Mohd Yasin and Clement a/l Marai Francis.
The move by the prime minister and MOH frontliners to get themselves vaccinated has certainly boosted the confidence of the people regarding the safety of the vaccine.
In fact, after getting his jab, Muhyiddin described the vaccination process as smooth and assured the people that the vaccine is safe and effective.
He urged the people to sign up for the vaccination and support the government’s latest effort to break the chain of infection and end the pandemic.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Seri Dr Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri said the effort to administer COVID-19 vaccine is in line with maqasid syariah (Islamic requirements).
The Muzakarah Committee of the National Council on Islamic Religious Affairs has decided that the use of COVID-19 vaccine is permissible (harus) and compulsory (wajib) for groups that have been identified by the government.
“May Allah SWT protect Malaysia in this effort and answer our prayers,” he said in his Twitter posting today.
States receive supplies
Meanwhile, the vaccination exercise is moving in tandem in other parts of the country, as vaccines will be distributed from 54 Vaccine Storage Centres (PSV) to the 605 Vaccine Dispensing Centres (PPV) nationwide.
Several states in peninsular Malaysia today started receiving their supply of the Comirnaty vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech.
They included Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Melaka, Kelantan, Perak, Pahang and Perlis.
The national immunisation programme, themed Protect Oneself, Protect Everyone, will be implemented in three phases, with the first phase from February to April 2021 for 500,000 frontliners.
Phase two from April to August is for senior citizens aged 65 and above, high-risk groups and people with disabilities involving 9.4 million people, while phase three is from May 2021 to February 2022, for those aged 18 and above, covering more than 13.7 million people.
The government is targeting to get at least 80 per cent of the people vaccinated to achieve herd immunity to curb and end the pandemic.
Malaysia has signed agreements to procure 66.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX Facility and five producers – Pfizer BioNTech, Astra Zeneca, Sinovac, CanSino and Gamaleya.
The first batch of 312,390 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in the country on Sunday.
Coordinating Minister for the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme Khairy Jamaluddin said that so far 465,081 people had registered via MySejahtera for the vaccination.
Increased number of cases in Negeri Sembilan
A total of 3,545 new COVID-19 positive cases meanwhile were reported today with Negeri Sembilan recording the highest with 1,392 cases.
Dr Noor Hisham said following the Bahau case, the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases in the country stands at 291,774 while 12 more deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.
He said a total of 3,544 of the total new cases were domestic infections involving 1,544 Malaysians and 2,000 foreigners while only one import case was reported involving a non-citizen.
There were 3,331 recoveries today while the total number of active cases is at 30,677, he said in a statement on the development of COVID-19.
Dr Noor Hisham said, Selangor recorded the second highest daily cases with 581 cases, followed by Kuala Lumpur (381), Sarawak (353), Johor (318), Perak (188), Sabah (105), Penang (95), Melaka (26 ), Terengganu (22), Kedah (17), Pahang (eight), Labuan (five) and Putrajaya with one case.
He said of the 12 deaths reported today, 11 fatalities involved locals and one non-citizen between the ages of 52 to 98 with seven cases recorded in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor (two) and one case each in Sabah, Terengganu and Penang.
Dr Noor Hisham said 29 cluster-related cases were reported in prisons and immigration detention depots involving Tembok Sungai Udang cluster (14 cases), Tembok Pengkalan Chepa cluster (12 cases), Telok Mas cluster (two cases) and Tembok Taiping cluster, one case.
He added, as many as eight more new clusters were identified today, with seven of them related to the workplace while one cluster involved the community in Sinsingon, Sabah.
The workplace clusters identified are Lukut Industrial cluster, Jalan Ulu Choh and Jalan Dato Yunus, Johor; Lorong Bakau and Vista Hilir (Penang); Jalan Enam (Selangor) and Pasar Bidor in Perak.
Dr Noor Hisham said a total of 78 clusters recorded additional cases today including the Sungai Gadut Industrial cluster (1,338 cases), the Jalan Segambut Construction Site cluster (174 cases), and the Jalan Pelabuhan cluster (164 cases).
The additional new clusters today, bring the current number of active clusters to 509, while 594 clusters had closed after eight more clusters were reported to have ended today, he said.
