Is Malaysia able to speed up its COVID-19 vaccine rollout? This chart provides a clearer picture

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has assured the public that Malaysia will have enough COVID-19 vaccines to cover 80 per cent of the population by October.

He also shared a graph from the Special Committee on Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) showing the scheduled delivery of the vaccines compared to the total number of registrations so far.

“The green line is the delivery schedule of all the vaccines that Malaysia has obtained. The yellow line is the status of vaccine registrations now.

“The light blue line is the programme’s target. The supply will begin to exceed the registrations by June, so it will certainly end before the year is out,” Khairy said on Twitter.

Yesterday, the minister announced that China’s Sinovac vaccine will be included among Malaysia’s portfolio of vaccines that will be used for those above the age of 60 in Phase Two of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme scheduled to start on April 19.

The Chinese-made vaccine, along with US’ Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, are among doses that will be utilised in Phase Two, with Khairy reiterating both vaccines are safe to use for all.

While Pfizer’s vaccine reportedly had a high efficacy rate, Khairy said that the Special Committee on COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) had reviewed the data on the Sinovac vaccine and it also showed that it has a high efficacy rate against severe and moderate cases of COVID-19. — Malay Mail

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