139,720 in Malaysia given first dose of COVID-19 vaccine; Sarawak leads with 22,140 vaccinations

A total of 139,720 people in the country have received the first of the two-dose COVID-19 vaccine to date, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah disclosed today.

He shared infographics on his Facebook page detailing the number of doses distributed to each state, with a caption in Malay that translates to “protect yourself, protect all”.

Sarawak was shown to have the most people vaccinated, with 22,149 doses given out. This was followed by Pahang (14,473 doses), Selangor (12,336 doses), and Kelantan (11,927 doses).

Sabah has distributed 11,739 doses and Kuala Lumpur 11,267 doses.

The least vaccines were distributed in Perlis with 2,223 doses, Labuan with 2,259 doses, and Putrajaya with 2,290 doses.

In a separate post, Dr Noor Hisham also revealed that nationwide COVID-19 infectivity rate — also known as R-naught — is at 0.85, signifying that the disease is in decline and will eventually die out.

Malaysia is undergoing the first phase of its National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme, which aims to vaccinate some 500,000 frontline workers by April.

This will be followed by the vaccination of the elderly and those chronically ill in the programme’s second phase, and finally the vaccination of adults above the age of 18 in the third phase later this year. — Malay Mail

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