Thanks to a determined effort, Malaysia’s daily vaccination rate is one of the highest in the world
In May this year, Malaysia was vaccinating around 80,000 people daily. In but just two months later, this number had risen massively to more than 400,000 doses daily.
“In June alone, over five million vaccinations were administered. And it’s more than what we’ve done from early February to May. We want to achieve 10 million in July and slightly more in August,” the CEO of ProtectHealth Corporation Sdn Bhd (ProtectHealth), Dato’ Dr Anas Alam Faizli, told The Health.
At this rate, the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) will achieve its target sooner than expected.
“We are in a good place now. With the vaccine inoculation rate speeded up, we are looking at achieving 80 per cent herd immunity before end of this year or slightly earlier as compared to the initial plan of February next year.”
ProtectHealth, which is tasked to implement private medical practitioner’s participation in the NIP, was incorporated in 2016 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ProtectHealth Malaysia, established under the Ministry of Health (MoH). It is worth noting that there is no playbook on carrying out such a vaccination programme nationwide, so they were treading on new ground.
Accelerating the vaccination rate
Based on Our World In Data by Oxford University, Malaysia has one of the top vaccination rate numbers in the world, exceeding countries such as the UK.
Malaysia’s vaccination rate began to surpass the UK on June 21. The country had administered 0.60 doses per 100 people on average against 0.55 in the UK. And by July 9, Malaysia had on average administered 0.96 doses per 100 people.
As of July 12, Malaysia had on average administered 1.09 doses per 100 people. The total number of vaccine doses administered nationwide is 8.10 million doses, which is about 25 per cent of the population.
It was by no means an easy task. Fully manned vaccinations centres (PPVs) had to be opened fairly quickly, and the supply of vaccines assured. Private medical practitioners (PMPs) such as hospitals and clinics were also roped into the programme.
The acceleration in the vaccination rate is partly due to the successful integration of PMPs in the NIP by ProtectHealth and leadership by CITF and MoH.
Anas also said the vaccine inoculation was being accelerated in Selangor and the Greater Klang Valley. This is to achieve 80 per cent of its population being inoculated as early as September or October.
“Overall, our utilisation rate is more than 90 per cent, meaning that all the vaccines that are in the fridge are being used. The stock and the capacity of the vaccine for utilisation is as good as every four or five days. Within those days, all our PPV facilities are demanding more vaccines.
“There is no way to exit this pandemic aside from vaccinating as fast as possible. We are now looking at the pathway that Covid-19 will end up as endemic, just like the flu it might not go away” — The Health
