Arrival of vaccine marks new dawn in battle against COVID-19 - Dr Noor Hisham

Describing the arrival of the vaccine at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) as a historic occasion, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said it was symbolic of all the blood, sweat, tears and sacrifices in facing the pandemic all this while.

"It's a new dawn, a new frontier, different battlefront and an additional strategy to fight against the virus, giving a glimmer of hope to see the light at the end of tunnel," he said in his Facebook posting, after witnessing the arrival of the vaccine.

Also present at KLIA to witness the arrival of the vaccine were Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba, Coordinating Minister for National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme Khairy Jamaluddin and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong.

Dr Noor Hisham also thanked the frontliners and Health Ministry personnel for their dedication and perseverance in the battle against the pandemic.

He prayed for the Almighty to bless and protect them and grant them strength in discharging their duties.

"No one is safe until everyone is safe," he said.

Flight MH604, bearing the Jalur Gemilang livery to symbolise the vaccine is for Malaysians, landed at 10.07 am with the first batch of 312,390 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The Passenger-to-Cargo (P2C) flight used an Airbus 330-300, operated by MAB Kargo Sdn Bhd (MASkargo), the cargo arm of national carrier Malaysia Airlines Bhd.

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Dr Noor Hisham will be among the first to receive the vaccine when the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme is rolled out on Wednesday ahead of schedule, said Khairy Jamaluddin, the coordinating minister for the programme.

Since the first COVID-19 infection was reported in Malaysia on Jan 25, 2020, a total of 1,051 deaths related to the virus have been reported as of yesterday.

A total of 280,272 people have been infected so far but 244,753 have recovered.