KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 — The government will not object to any party or organisation in Malaysia seeking to purchase Covid-19 vaccines for themselves, provided they go through the necessary approval, said Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

He said the approval must come from the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) which is in charge of analysing the safety and efficacy of any Covid-19 related vaccines in the country.

"If these parties say they wish to purchase, then they will not be stopped as long as the vaccines they purchase are approved by the NPRA,” Muhyiddin said RTM’s Bicara Khas programme.

He said the government’s plans to procure vaccines have been in place since last year.

"At the time we could not choose or compete for it since it was under the control of the World Health Organisation’s Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access initiative. Our agreement was to ensure 100 per cent of the Malaysian population can be immunised.

"The issue, therefore, was not whether we would get the vaccine supply, but when we would get the supply. We already have 600 vaccination centres, logically this means up to 150,000 inoculations daily,” Muhyiddin said.

The prime minister guaranteed that the full supply of Covid-19 vaccine will arrive by the year’s end.

"We can achieve the 80 per cent herd immunity target before the year ends. So the proverbial tunnel is not that long, as I was informed nearly one million have since received their second dosage.

"Additionally, the vaccine supplies have also arrived earlier than scheduled, per our calculations. Yet do not violate the standard operating procedures, for we will not feel safe if the world at large is not yet safe,” Muhyiddin said.