Malaysia on track to achieve 50% of adult population fully vaccinated in August, says KJ

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 15): The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) is on track to achieve its target of getting 50% of Malaysia's adult population fully vaccinated in the month of August, according to its coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

In a video update today, Khairy noted that in July alone, PICK administered 12 million doses, which were more than the eight million cumulative doses it administered from the start of the programme in February, to June.

This, he said, was achieved through an average daily vaccination rate of almost 400,000, surpassing its target of 300,000 daily doses in July.

"We started the month (of July) behind advanced countries like Australia, Japan and South Korea, but finished the month considerably ahead. Our ramp-up has been internationally recognised, and we have been recording daily vaccinations in excess of half a million doses.

"This shows us what we have always known: What was holding us back was not the lack of capacity, resources, or competency, but rather, not having a consistent supply of vaccines, due to global vaccine inequity and the hoarding of vaccines by certain countries, which has been condemned by the World Health Organization," he said.

Further, Khairy updated that PICK has also succeeded in achieving its target of ensuring 100% of adults in the Klang Valley receiving at least a single dose, in an exercise called Operations Surge Capacity. This, he added, involved immunising an average of 235,000 doses daily in the Klang Valley alone throughout the exercise.

"Thank you to all involved, and we hope to see the inflection point for hospitalisation and deaths in the Klang Valley in the next few weeks, as people get their second doses," he said.

As of yesterday (Aug 14), Malaysia had crossed more than 40% of the adult population receiving two doses, and more than 50% of the total population had received at least a single dose. Meanwhile, 81% of all registered adults have received at least a single dose of the vaccine.

Khairy pointed to the success in Labuan and Sarawak, which now have 60% and 56% of its total population respectively fully vaccinated. As a result, Khairy said that Covid-19 patients in intensive care units have dropped by 60% in Sarawak, and close to 100% in Labuan, while other key data like deaths and serious hospitalisation are also on a downtrend.

"We know that the Delta variant is prevalent in both Sarawak and Labuan, yet, Alhamdulillah, the vaccines are having their intended effect of reducing the severity of Covid-19. So in terms of speed and effectiveness, our immunisation programme has started to deliver some early positive results. But we must continuously strive to do better and we will," he said.

"We had a very good July, and we are on track for August target. We need to work hard to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible. So our economy can open, our people can recover, and our nation can heal.

"I will not stop until every adult is fully vaccinated by the end of October. That is my promise to you. I hope I can see this through," Khairy added.

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