Singapore to give more than 100,000 shots of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to Johor: Johor chief minister

ISKANDAR PUTERI — Johor will receive more than 400,500 Covid-19 vaccine doses donated by Singapore and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), its chief minister Hasni Mohammad said on Monday (Sept 6).

Of the shots it will receive, 100,640 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine will come from Singapore. The shipment is due to arrive in the state soon, said Mr Hasni.

The vaccine donation by Singapore is a sign of the close relationship between Johor and Singapore, said Mr Hasni, who pointed out that the city-state had earlier donated about 200,000 doses of China's Sinovac vaccine to Johor in July.

Johor will also receive 300,000 doses of the SinoPharm vaccine from the UAE government.

Mr Hasni thanked Malaysia's former foreign minister Hishammuddin Hussein for his efforts in facilitating vaccine donations to Johor.

“For the record, the number of vaccine doses received by the state under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Program between March 1 and yesterday is 4.7 million doses,” he told the Johor state assembly on Monday.

Mr Hasni said 2.4 million doses of the vaccines received were from Pfizer, 1.8 million doses were Sinovac, and 410,750 doses were AstraZeneca.

He added that vaccination will be a key component to the state’s exit strategy in recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.

“With that, the Johor government has set a target of achieving 100 per cent of the state’s adult population aged 18 years above to at least receive one dose by Sept 16 and the completion of their second dose by the third week of October."

Giving an update on Johor's vaccination rates, he said 83 per cent, or 2.2 million of the adult population above the age of 18, have received their first dose of the vaccine. More than half of the population, or 1.4 million people, have completed both doses.

Mr Hasni also said the Johor government welcomed the move by the Malaysian Health Ministry to vaccinate those under the age of 18 in an effort to widen the herd immunity.

He said vaccinating those under 18, which will include students, undergraduates and the young, is more important than the proposal to give out booster shots.

Last Wednesday, Johor administered the highest number of Covid-19 vaccine doses nationwide, followed by Sabah and Perak.

The state inoculated 60,915 individuals, which accounted for 15.3 per cent of the total doses administered across the country on that day.

Malaysian Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin had said that the government will accelerate Covid-19 vaccination and medical operations in five states soon, namely Sabah, Johor, Penang, Kedah and Kelantan, which are currently experiencing a spike in Covid-19 cases as well as slow vaccination rates. MALAY MAIL