Kuching MP: Being proactive, Singapore secured vaccine before M'sia
Bandar Kuching MP Kelvin Yii opined that Singapore managed to receive Covid-19 vaccines earlier than Malaysia because the island republic is more proactive in its planning.
Malaysia, on the other hand, was too focused on a "fire-fighting" mentality rather than planning ahead like its neighbour, he said on Facebook yesterday (Dec 23).
"While I am not denying money is one of the factors, but with better planning and long-term thinking...
Bandar Kuching MP Kelvin Yii opined that Singapore managed to receive Covid-19 vaccines earlier than Malaysia because the island republic is more proactive in its planning.
Malaysia, on the other hand, was too focused on a "fire-fighting" mentality rather than planning ahead like its neighbour, Yii said on Facebook yesterday.
"While I am not denying money is one of the factors, but with better planning and long-term thinking, such an issue could be better mitigated.
"Singapore showed a proactive, rather than reactive approach, with planning starting as early as April, maybe earlier, by activating a whole-society approach, especially by appointing technocrats and experts from both the public and private sectors to be part of a joint effort to address this issue together.
"We are too focused on containment or a fire-fighting mentality rather than planning ahead, and that is why I believe we lag behind months as compared to our friendly neighbours," he said.
Yii said this in a dismissal of an explanation by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
Khairy said Malaysia lagged two months behind Singapore in receiving the Covid-19 vaccines because the island state, like the US and the European Union, has deep pockets and had inked an agreement with vaccine maker Pfizer months before Malaysia.
Singapore received its first batch of the coronavirus vaccine on Monday, Dec 21, while Malaysia will receive its first shipment of the same vaccine in February 2021.
In his Facebook post, Yii shared excerpts of an article by health portal Code Blue, which stated that the republic had formed a therapeutics and vaccines expert panel as early as April to advise the government.
According to the article, the panel comprising 18 clinicians and scientists from the public and private sectors, looked at potential medicines to treat Covid-19 as well as over 35 vaccine candidates.
Singapore was said to have undertaken efforts to further investigate the various Covid-19 vaccines and had formed a planning group to make "strategic bets" on some of the vaccines recommended by the expert panel.
The article noted that the Singaporean government had allocated more than SG$1 billion (RM3.04 billion) for the vaccines.
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