WITH Malaysia expecting the first delivery of the Covid-19 vaccine to arrive sometime this month, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced that Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin will be appointed as the Coordinating Minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.

Khairy will lead a Special Task Force that manages the implementation of the programme, especially on issues related to logistics and coordination with states and government agencies.

“This is to enable the Health Ministry to continue to focus on the functions of health services in dealing with the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is still showing a worrying trend,” Muhyiddin said in a pre-recorded televised address today.

Muhyiddin said Putrajaya hoped to inoculate 80% of the country’s population, or 26.5 million individuals, by February 2022.

He said the vaccination programme would involve three phases.

The prime minister said the first phase will involve 500,000 frontline staff comprising health and non-health personnel.

“This phase is crucial to protecting our front liners who are at the forefront of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The first phase of this immunisation program is scheduled to end in April,” he said.

Muhyiddin said the second phase will involve high-risk groups, which include elderly and vulnerable people aged 60 and above, who suffer from comorbidities such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.

He added that people with disabilities are also included in this phase.

An estimated 9.4 million people will receive the vaccine under this second phase, which will run from April to August 2021, he said.

Muhyiddin said under the third phase of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, the remaining vaccine recipients will be adults aged 18 years and above, which will start from May 2021 to February 2022.

To ensure that the program runs smoothly, orderly and facilitates the public, Muhyiddin said more than 600 centres, which are also vaccination centres, will be opened nationwide.

“I have instructed the authorities to use various facilities including public and private health facilities, stadiums, convention centres, public halls and universities as vaccination centres.

“We are all in this together, and only together can we win,” he said. – February 4, 2021.