THE Pakatan Harapan (PH) Covid-19 vaccination committee today urged the government to enlist the private sector to assist in the vaccination drive to address capacity constraints and achieve herd immunity quickly.

The committee said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said in January the target was to administer 75,000 doses of vaccine a day. 

“However, as of February 28, the same minister said in a tweet only 15,923 Malaysians have been vaccinated on that day. 

“We are not sure if the daily target of 75,000 injections could not be achieved as this week because it is the first week of the vaccination programme.

“But this may be an early sign that the vaccination system, currently being run by the Health Ministry, may have insufficient capacity to reach the target of 75,000 injections a day,” they said in a statement today. 

The committee said capacity constraints will be more pronounced in the second and third phases of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, which will involve 9.4 million and 13.7 million people, respectively – which far exceeds the 500,000 people in Phase 1. 

“As a more proactive measure, MoH needs to immediately consider collaboration with private hospitals to jointly ensure the success of the programme more quickly in order to achieve the 80% herd immunity level of immunisation,” the committee said. 

An example of this collaboration, they said, is to create more vaccination distribution centres (VDCs) in private clinics or hospitals.

They said with more VDCs established, the possibility of any “bottlenecks” in VDCs can be reduced. 

“At the same time, more effective social distancing measures can be carried out if there are more VDCs,” it added. 

However, the terms and conditions for the public-private partnership (PPP) should be transparent to ensure the job is not awarded to “certain companies only”. 

The committee said players from the private sector who could meet the conditions set out in the the PPP agreement should be given the opportunity to join the programme. 

“We emphasise that vaccines should not be sold to the private sector to the highest bidders as long as there is a local shortage of vaccines. 

“The private sector will provide injections according to the name schedule determined by the MoH. Some in the private sector may even take part in the programme as their corporate social responsibility contribution,” they said. 

The committee added that the involvement of the private sector in a structured and transparent manner can increase the safety and effectiveness of the vaccination process. 

“Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has recently included in private sector in the treatment of Covid-19 patients. Pharmaniaga has also been given the responsibility to do a ‘fill and finish’ for the Sinovac vaccine from China.”

The task force is headed by former health minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad. 

Other members include former deputy health minister and Gopeng MP Dr Lee Boon Chye, Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii, Lumut MP Dr Hatta Ramli, Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin, Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming, along with state health excos Dr Norlela Ariffin (Penang), Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud (Selangor) and S. Veerapan (Negri Sembilan).

Earlier, the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia expressed their willingness to assist the government in the vaccination drive.

“The reason the private hospitals strongly feel that some assistance should be given to the government as the current programme in three stages, which is expected to end in February 2022, is extremely long and not acceptable,” association president Dr Kuljit Singh said in a statement today.

Kuljit proposed the private sector could donate the surcharge from every patient vaccinated at the private sector to the government’s fund to run the free public vaccination programme. – March 2, 2021.