Can Putrajaya really procure four million doses of Covid vaccine by end of the month? Bee Yin asks Khairy

KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — Former minister Yeo Bee Yin has questioned her successor Khairy Jamaluddin on whether vaccine supply targets can be achieved by the government.

Yeo, who held the energy, science, technology, environment and climate change portfolio during Pakatan Harapan’s reign, expressed concern if Malaysia can procure four million doses of vaccine by this month, as projected by Khairy back in April, with inoculation numbers suggesting otherwise.

She said reports from the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV) showed that only 2.07 million doses were administered as of yesterday, indicating just around 2.95 million in vaccines supply by virtue of the 70 per cent usage rate estimation.

The Bakri MP explained that JKJAV’s estimations on the vaccine supply, an infographic which was later shared by Khairy, also showed that Malaysia should have at least six million doses of vaccines at this stage of the month.

“Looking at how urgent it is for faster vaccination rollout, two thirds of the month of May has gone, we would like to seek clarification from the government if the estimation of 4 million doses of additional vaccine supply this month will be achieved?

“And is the government going to find ways to compensate for the shortfall of vaccine supply from estimation?” she asked in a statement today.

Pressing further, the former minister underscored the importance of rapid vaccine rollouts to allow the economy to heal, illustrating the situation in the United Kingdom where vaccination rates have accelerated from less than three per cent in January to nearly 70 per cent having already been given their first dose, with almost 40 per cent fully vaccinated as of now.

Yeo also played down Khairy’s recent claim of wealthier countries bidding directly from vaccine suppliers for the sluggish vaccine supply, saying more should be done to source alternatives.

She even questioned how local pharmaceutical movers Pharmaniaga could take 10 weeks to package Sinovac vaccines that arrived here as early as February but were only ready to be administered last week.

“The government cannot put the entire blame of the shortage of vaccine supply on the behaviour of the developed countries. We should find ways to do more efficiently of what we can control.

“The government should review the process and if possible, find ways to shorten bulk-to-vials process (without compromising the safety).

“Indeed, many things may not be within our control such as emerging variants. However, we can at least do other things such as increasing efficiency and speed in tracing, testing and isolating as well as managing the vaccination rollout better to lower the number of cases and severity of the positive cases,” she wrote.

Yeo also stressed how the government should not look at Opposition lawmakers and the private sector as enemies in the fight against Covid-19 and instead synergise to achieve a common goal.