PETALING JAYA: The existing 381 Vaccines Administration Centres (PPV) must be increased by another 2,000 to achieve herd immunity by Dec 31.
In making this call, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said only 124,618 and 133,804 Covid-19 vaccine doses were administered throughout the nation on June 11 and 12 respectively despite the daily target of 150,000 doses set by the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
“As of June 11, a total of 1.30 million Malaysians had been fully vaccinated, while 1.63 million individuals had received only one jab,” Lim said in a statement.
“Malaysia still has a long way to go to achieve herd immunity of 80% of Malaysia’s population of 32.72 million, requiring 26.18 million people to be vaccinated. To achieve herd immunity by 31 December, Khairy has set the target of 150,000 daily doses in June, 200,000 daily doses in July and 300,000 daily doses in August.”
Apart from the problem of the ready supply of vaccines, one of the challenges that can cause the repeated failure of achieving the targeted 150,000 daily doses in June, 200,000 daily doses in July and 300,000 daily doses in August, is the small number of PPV, Lim said.
“How can a mere 381 PPVs throughout the country get the job done for vaccination of 26.18 million Malaysians or an average total of nearly 70,000 Malaysians processed by each PPV? This is too onerous a burden placed on the existing 381 PPV,” Lim added.
He said DAP is urging the government to act immediately by gazetting all Health Ministry Health Clinics and suitable private clinics into PPVs to make vaccination readily available, accessible and affordable for all Malaysians, particularly in rural areas.
“Turning health clinics and suitable private clinics into PPVs will also help to widen the reach and access of vaccination into the rural areas. Many living in the remote or rural areas especially for Sabah and Sarawak face logistical difficulties in getting to the PPVs located far from their homes,” Lim said.
