What 2.9 million doses? We don’t even have enough supply of Covid-19 vaccine, says Selangor

KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 — The Selangor government has said today that it is impossible for it to have an extra 2.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine in reserve after using over 400,000 does, since its supply is still not even enough.

Its Public Health, Unity, Women and Family Development Committee chairman Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud said as of Tuesday, Selangor has received only 615,000 doses.

“Of this, 434,070 doses are the Pfizer vaccine, 146,440 doses are the Sinovac vaccine, and 34,700 doses are the Astra-Zeneca vaccine,” she said in a statement.

Per the statistics issued by the Selangor state operations room, the first phase of the Covid-19 vaccination involves 233,874 doses, while the second phase involves 192,096 doses.

“The total number of vaccines administered so far stands at approximately 425,970 doses. The management of the vaccine is fully handled by the Health Ministry.

“The vaccine supply allocated to Selangor was handed over to the state Health Department, which then channelled it to the pharmacy division and distributed it to the district health centres and vaccine centres, according to predetermined distribution amount,” Dr Siti Mariah said.

She was responding to an article titled by health news site CodeBlue today citing the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (Mosti), saying that Selangor has received 2.9 million doses of vaccines.

Dr Siti Mariah added that the issue has already been raised with the state health department, which stated that Selangor’s vaccine supply remains insufficient.

“There has been much confusion caused by the data from the Mosti via the aforementioned article. Firstly, the data stated is not in line with the available statistics on the giving and receiving of Covid-19 vaccines in Selangor.

“Secondly, it is known that states have been administering vaccines more than they have been receiving. This situation indicates the data by Mosti is both inaccurate and confusing,” Dr Siti Mariah said.

The chairman said Selangor has the capability to carry out a higher number of daily vaccinations than the present, but that the state government cannot maximise the vaccination centres to their full capabilities due to this limited amount of doses received by the state.

“As such, I urge for the implementation of the vaccination programme to be carried out transparently, with more accurate and up to date information and data,” she said.

CodeBlue’s article reported that of the supposed 2.9 million doses given to Selangor, only 398,029 had been administered since Monday (May 30), leaving over 2.5 million yet to be used.