Vaccines from Europe already used up, minister's science adviser tells Lim
Vaccines that Malaysia received from Europe have already been administered, an adviser to Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin told DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.
"It's in the arms of Malaysians," tweeted Mohd Ghows Azzam, who is Khairy's science adviser.
He was responding to Lim's query on what happened to five million doses of vaccine that Europe claims to have delivered to Malaysia.
Vaccines that Malaysia received from Europe have already been administered, an adviser to Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin told DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.
"It's in the arms of Malaysians," tweeted Mohd Ghows Azzam, who is Khairy's science adviser.
He was responding to Lim's query on what happened to five million doses of vaccine that Europe claims to have delivered to Malaysia.
Ghows clarified that some four million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had arrived, while another 445,000 will arrive between this week and next week, bringing the total close to 4.87 million doses.
This tallied with the estimate given by European Union (EU) ambassador Michalis Rokas.
The 4.87 million Pfizer doses delivered, however, is just 10.8 percent of the 44.8 million doses Malaysia has ordered.
Meanwhile, another 828,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the Covax facility had been delivered via Unicef, Ghows said.
Overall, he said 6.3 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine had been administered as of yesterday.
Earlier, Lim called for clarification, saying it was necessary after Rokas denied Khairy's allegations that the EU was hoarding Covid-19 vaccines.
"If the EU did not hoard the vaccines as claimed by Khairy, this gives rise to the important question as to what happened to the five million doses and how they were given and applied to Malaysians," Lim said in a statement today.
Yesterday, Rokas said figures as of June 15 showed that 4.87 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 560,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine had been shipped to Malaysia.
The approval process, said Rokas, took three days at most.
Rokas was responding to allegations by Khairy that Malaysia's vaccine supply from Europe had been delayed, while countries such as the UK had enough vaccines to inoculate its population several times over.
As of June 21, 18.73 percent out of an estimated 23.41 million adults in the country have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose. Putrajaya aims to vaccinate 80 percent of the population by year-end.
Lim said Putrajaya should not blame others for the slow rollout of the vaccination programme and instead admit weaknesses in the procurement process.
"And the latest to be blamed is the EU which has rebutted with facts and figures that the allegations are baseless.
"If this is the best that Perikatan Nasional can do, then there is every reason for the public loss of confidence and trust deficit," the Bagan MP added.
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
This action cannot be undone.