THE slow progress rate of the national Covid-19 immunisation programme may delay economic recovery, especially of small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), said sector leaders.

SME Association of Malaysia president Michael Kang said vaccination is not proceeding quickly enough amid a surge in new cases, indicating a possible fourth wave of infections.

Kang said many businesses have yet to resume full operations.

“We feel that the economy is slowly recovering. But the problem is that the rate of vaccinations is not fast enough,” Kang told The Malaysian Insight.

“Is there any point in asking everyone to register (for the vaccine) if there isn’t sufficient supply?”

Kang said while businesses have been allowed to resume operations, the continued ban on interstate travel was a contradiction.

“How is business to be done when such restrictions are still in place?” he said.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have respectively projected a 7% and 6.7% growth for the the Malaysian economy this year.

But a downtrend in new coronavirus cases late last year has since reversed and infections have risen once more in the second week of April.

New cases shot up to more than 2,000 yesterday and Thursday.

Malaysia began vaccination on February 24 and 8.83 million people, or 36.4% of the population, have registered for the shots as of April 15, according to data tweeted by the special committee on Covid-19 vaccine supply.

About 1.1 million of them have received their jabs – 671,589 have received the first dose and 434,301 have completed the course.

Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Malaysia (ACCCIM) national council member Koong Lin Long also said inoculation is going too slowly to support economic recovery.

He agreed the economic sectors cannot fully function while domestic travel remains barred.

“(But) If we are to allow interstate travel, the government needs to speed up vaccination to keep the Covid crisis under control. The economy needs to open although we agree that some restrictions should still be in place,” Koong said.

Kang said interstate travel has to be permitted to revive the tourism and food and beverage sectors, which are among the worst affected by the pandemic.

“Only the electronics, manufacturing and essential sectors have performed well; many other SMEs are still struggling to survive,” he said.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin recently said vaccine supplies were low compared to the number of people registered for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.

The coordinating minister for the vaccination effort said this was due to developed countries hoarding the vaccines, but assured that Malaysia would receive enough doses by June or July to proceed with the rest of the programme.

Kang agreed with the Health Ministry’s recent decision to let private hospitals serve as vaccination centres and for general practitioners to administer the shots, which would hasten the vaccination process. – April 18, 2021.