Shipment of UK-donated vaccines arrives

SEPANG: Malaysia has received 415,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine contributed by the United Kingdom, which will further boost the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.

The consignment was flown in via Emirates Airlines EK 346, which landed at the KL International Airport (KLIA) at 2.20pm.

On hand to receive the vaccines were National Covid-19 Immunisation Programne coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba and British High Commissioner to Malaysia Charles Hay.

The vaccine supply is the fourth contribution from abroad to Malaysia. Prior to this, Japan donated 998,400 doses of AstraZeneca, the US contributing 1,000,350 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and China giving 500,000 doses of the Sinovac vaccine.

In a joint press conference, Khairy said: “This contribution will ramp up vaccination in Malaysia. We currently have the highest vaccination rate daily per capita in the world.”

He said about 62% of the adult population in the country had received a single dose while 31% had been fully vaccinated.

Khairy said the AstraZeneca vaccines received today were meant for first-dose recipients and would be delivered to the states.

“We are also scheduled to receive 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine at the end of the month for second-dose use,” he said.

In his response, Hay quoted the Malay proverbs to reflect the close ties between both countries.

Hay said the UK and Malaysia enjoyed the best of relations, and expressed hope that the vaccine contribution would boost the vaccination rate in Malaysia and help protect more people from Covid-19. — Bernama