PM: Additional six million doses of vaccine purchased, more comprehensive Covid-19 strategy to be introduced

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 — In his maiden speech today, new Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced an additional purchase of six million doses of Covid-19 vaccines.

“In catalysing the achievement of herd immunity as in Labuan, as a good news in conjunction with the National Day celebration, I am glad to announce the additional purchase of six million doses of vaccines which will arrive in early September 2021,” he said.

He said that he would ensure that all effort and intervention by the Government to bring down the number of Covid-19 cases in the country will be more comprehensive.

“Through the continuous efforts of the previous Government, (the) vaccination rate in Malaysia has become one of the fastest in the world. Malaysia consistently rolled out more than 500,000 doses a day.

“Based on that data, therefore this government will pursue the previous government’s efforts in implementing measures in order for us to swiftly move to the next phase of recovery through herd immunity,” he said.

He added that to achieve the target sooner, the government will further strengthen the implementation of strategies and initiatives to increase the coverage of Malaysia’s National Immunisation Programme (NIP).

“Based on data from last Friday, August 20, the daily cases in (Wilayah Perseketuan) Labuan have dropped drastically to a single digit for seven days in a row after achieving 90 per cent of adult herd immunity.

“This does not mean that we will be completely free from the threat of Covid-19. Rather, when we have reached herd immunity, the virus will not pose a serious threat as it is today,” he said.

Earlier today, the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV) said a total of 54.3 per cent of the country’s adult population, or 12,718,701 individuals, have completed both doses of the Covid-19 vaccination as of yesterday.

JKJAV, through an infographic on Twitter, said 77.4 per cent or 18,121,392 individuals have received the first dose, taking the cumulative total of vaccine administered through the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) to 30,840,093 doses.

On the daily vaccination, a total of 469,690 doses were administered yesterday, with 159,792 being the first dose and 309,898 the second dose.