Khairy, who is minister of science, technology and innovation, said the third phase, open to the general public above 18 years of age, was able to begin as 99% of senior citizens in the Klang Valley and 88% in Selangor who had registered for vaccination had either received their first dose of the vaccine or had received their appointment dates.
He said those who had registered from Feb 23 would get their appointment dates tomorrow for vaccination at the National Stadium.
“Instead of waiting until we have completed 100% of those who registered for vaccination, I decided to start Phase 3 so that this phase can be expedited,” he said.
“Any state that has achieved 90% of the first dose of the vaccine jab or those who are registered have received their appointment dates, then we will begin the third phase of the immunisation programme.”
Senior citizens who register after tomorrow’s launch of the third phase in the Klang Valley would still be given priority as vaccine recipients.
Khairy said that Malaysia’s performance in administering vaccine jabs was more competitive than several neighbouring countries and not too far behind Japan.
“Actually, the vaccination capacity is not a problem, but (the problem) is the vaccine supply schedule due to vaccine inequality worldwide,” he said.
“We will get a supply of 12.8 million doses of vaccine in July and 14.4 million doses in August, subject to delivery. This is the agreement given by the suppliers and this will enable us to reach the target of having 80% of the population vaccinated much earlier than December,” he said.
Khairy said Malaysia had received four million doses of the Pfizer vaccine out of the 44.8 million that was ordered, 3.7 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine from the 12 million ordered, and 828,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from the 7.8 million ordered.
Asked why the government did not expand the use of the single-dose vaccines produced by CanSino of China and Johnson & Johnson of the US, Khairy said that the supply of Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinovac was sufficient for the time being.
He said the Johnson & Johnson and CanSino vaccines would be used for those who are difficult to be contacted, such as in the interiors of Sabah, Sarawak and the east coast, and refugees who are difficult to reach for second appointment dates.
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