KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 — The Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah and the Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah have expressed their appreciation to the United Kingdom (UK) government for the donation of 415,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine today.

Istana Negara, in a posting on its official Facebook account, stated that Their Majesties also hoped that the two countries can work together to face the challenges posed by the pandemic and move towards recovery.

"The donation clearly demonstrates the friendship and good relations that have been established between the government and the people of the two countries for a long time.

"Hopefully the supply of this vaccine will help boost the country in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, and intensify the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK),” the statement read.

Comptroller of the Royal Household of Istana Negara, Datuk Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin, said that Al-Sultan Abdullah also thanked British High Commissioner to Malaysia Charles Hay, for the vaccine donation.

Meanwhile, Their Majesties also expressed their appreciation to Senior Minister of Foreign Affairs, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein; Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin, who is also PICK Coordinating Minister, and Health Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba, for their efforts in materialising the cooperation between the two governments.

Their Majesties also called on the people to pray that the country will always be under the protection of Allah, free from calamities and for the Covid-19 pandemic to be brought under control immediately. — Bernama