All Klang Valley residents expected to be fully vaccinated next month - Health DG

PUTRAJAYA: All Klang Valley residents are expected to get at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine early next month and complete their two doses of vaccine inoculation by the end of the month, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Taking Labuan's vaccination success as an example, he said new infections recorded in the island have dropped to only 26 cases today.

"Two weeks after implementing the health measures and vaccination programme in Labuan, 87 per cent of its population received their first dose, while the remaining 52 per cent were fully vaccinated.

"Today, we can see that new COVID-19 cases in Labuan have decreased," he told a special press conference here today.

Dr Noor Hisham said the effectiveness of the public health measures and the increase in the number of vaccine recipients could also prevent the spread of the Delta variant in Labuan.

He said at one point, 1,340 cases of the Delta variant were recorded in Labuan within a week, which saw the intensive care unit (ICU) bed usage reaching 120 per cent.

The spike in cases also required the addition of 22 beds and the setting up of a field hospital as well as a Low Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centre (PKRC) in the island, he added.

"Currently, we see the ICU cases dropping to 55 per cent, namely, from 22 beds set aside for COVID-19, now only nine are occupied.

"The PKRC in Labuan now only has about 200 patients and this shows that while the Delta variant was spreading in Labuan, it was important to increase the vaccination rate," he said.

As such, Dr Noor Hisham said the method, namely increasing the vaccination rate should be used in the Klang Valley to simultaneously reduce cases and admissions to hospitals.

He said currently, more than 3.1 million individuals in the Klang Valley have had their first vaccine shots and the more than five million doses would be administered soon.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Datuk Dr Adham Baba confirmed that the Pfizer-BioNTech would be used at vaccination centres (PPVs) in Kelantan replacing Sinovac from next month.

"Apart from Kelantan, the Pfizer-BionTech vaccine will also be used nationwide since we (government) have booked 45.7 million doses of the vaccine compared to 16 million of Sinovac doses," he said.

-- BERNAMA