Khairy: Malaysia to offer AstraZeneca vaccine on 'first come, first served' basis

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia will be offering the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine on a “first come, first serve” basis to the general public in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, said Khairy Jamaluddin.

The coordinating minister of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme said the AstraZeneca vaccines will be given only to those who voluntarily want to receive them, after taking into consideration concerns from the public.

“We do not want to waste a vaccine that is proven to be safe and effective. But at the same time, we understand there are certain concerns among the public on the AstraZeneca vaccine," he said.

Khairy added that what has been agreed upon is a proactive measure to not use AstraZeneca in the mainstream immunisation programme

“Instead, we will be offering the AstraZeneca vaccines at special PPV (vaccination dispensing centres) to the public on a voluntary first-come-first-serve basis, ” said Khairy on Wednesday (April 28).

Khairy said at a joint press conference with Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba here that the PPVs will be opened in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur for now, where the number of Covid-19 infections are very high.

Malaysia currently has about 268,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines - of which the first batch arrived in the country last week.

Khairy said he has spoken to the Selangor Mentri Besar to identify suitable PPVs to administer AstraZeneca vaccines.

Concerns surrounding AstraZeneca came about after several cases of blood clotting emerged among receivers of the vaccines.

Khairy said the number of incidents however is very rare, with only four cases out of one million people globally.