KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has achieved record vaccine doses for the people, said Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme (NIP) Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
On July 22, a record high of 507,050 Covid-19 vaccine doses were administered, with 335,977 people receiving the first dose and 171,073 people receiving the second dose.
Up to July 22, more than 7.8 million doses have been administered, pushing the cumulative doses administered to more than 16 million.
Khairy said 12 million doses of vaccines were expected.
"The average vaccination rate in July so far is 357,064 doses per day, compared with 169,175 doses per day in June. This is an increase of 111 per cent.
"To date, 46.7 per cent of those who registered have received at least one dose," he said, adding that there were more than 2,200 vaccination centres nationwide.
The Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV) will soon hear from a panel of medical experts on whether there is a need for Malaysia to provide booster shots to its population in the fight against Covid-19.
Khairy said the committee will be briefed on studies about booster shots by a technical working group chaired by Dr Kalaiarasu M. Peariasamy.
Dr Kalaiarasu, who is the Health Ministry's Covid-19 Vaccine Candidate Selection Sub-Committee chairman, is also the director of the Institute for Clinical Research at the National Institutes of Health.
"We will get an update on the studies at the JKJAV meeting this week. I understand Dr Kalaiarasu will give a few recommendations on booster shots and this will also relate to the dispensing of different kinds of vaccines.
"Other countries have yet to decide on this, but one or two countries are weighing giving a third dose, such as the United Arab Emirates and some Middle Eastern countries.
"They have recommended that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine be given to those who have received two doses of Sinopharm which were administered to them six months ago.
"So we are monitoring all the different real world cases from other countries, on top of the recommendations that will be made by Dr Kalaiarasu at the JKJAV meeting," Khairy said during a special interview on the NIP which was held virtually on Friday.
Malaysia, he said, would not inoculate teens aged 12 to 17 despite the June 15 approval given by the Drug Control Authority on Pfizer-BioNtech vaccination for the age group.
This came after Dr Kalaiarasu advised the JKJAV to hold the decision after looking at the data of cases of myocarditis and pericarditis among teens who received two vaccine doses in the United States.
"Experts, who included paediatricians and cardiologists, have advised me and Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba to wait for real world data before we proceed to vaccinate those aged 12 and above.
"The experts feel that the incidents in the US are a little bit worrying and we should be cautious until we have better data on the side effects of myocarditis and the long-term effects of those who had myocarditis after their second dose.
"However, we have decided that teens with chronic diseases and at high risk of Covid-19 be given immunisation and clinical guidelines, such as which serious illness, will be announced soon."
Khairy said the JKJAV would also deliberate on Pharmaniaga Bhd's application to sell the Sinovac vaccine to the private market beginning next month as such a move would help the government accelerate the vaccination rate.
"However, we will set a few guidelines, such as the ceiling price and sales method of the Sinovac vaccine. We will determine all of these at the JKJAV meeting and it will be announced after that.
"We can allow a private market for companies that want to pay, if the people want to get vaccinated fast and do not want to wait.
"Having a public and private vaccination programmes mean we can get the immunisation exercise moving quicker. However, if one wants the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, they will have to wait to get it through the NIP, which is now being expedited."
He said the Sinovac vaccine had not been pulled out from the NIP, adding that Pharmaniaga had fully delivered the commitment of 12 million doses that were initially ordered by the government.
An additional order of three million doses had been placed with Pharmaniaga, which will be delivered over the next two weeks, he said, adding that the country was still in the queue for 25 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, which would be delivered within three months.
Khairy assured Malaysians that the government had purchased enough vaccines to cover 125 per cent of the population and it was just a matter of waiting for the supplies to arrive.
On easing travel restrictions for fully vaccinated persons, Khairy said it must be done carefully to prevent a spike in Covid-19 cases, which happened in other countries that loosened restrictions, and there was the fast spreading Delta variant to consider too.
Khairy said he was a bit more conservative on the idea of removing movement restrictions as he believed there was a need to reach a certain threshold before considering offering fully vaccinated people certain exemptions.
He said there were ongoing discussions on the matter at the National Security Council centred on when this could happen and how to do it in a very controlled manner.
On Operation Surge Capacity in the Klang Valley to ensure every adult receives the first dose by Aug 1, Khairy said vaccination centres had the capacity to administer 272,000 doses daily from July 26 to Aug 1.
"We have the vaccine supplies and the capacity. When 40 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, then we will see a drop in cases. Now, 16 per cent of the Klang Valley population have completed their doses.
"I hope on Aug 31, on National Day, we will hit the threshold of 40 per cent of the population fully vaccinated. We may then see a decline in hospitalisation and death rates.
"It is not going to be easy to achieve, but we hope all the adult population in Malaysia will be fully vaccinated by October or November. That is our target, which is earlier than the initial aim of December."
Khairy said the registration for vaccination stood at a strong 70 per cent, a result of the third wave of Covid-19 and people growing more confident about getting immunised, leading to a drop in vaccination hesitancy.
"Vaccination hesitancy has dropped a lot. But once we announce what fully vaccinated people are allowed to do, I think anti-vaxxers will want to get vaccinated too," Khairy said, adding that real world data showed that the vaccine was an important protection tool for humans in facing the Covid-19 virus and to prevent severe complications if infected.