COVID-19 vaccine brings hope to Malaysians- Lee Lam Thye

KUALA LUMPUR: The arrival of the first batch of COVID-19 vaccine is like a shiny beacon of hope for Malaysians in the fight to contain the spread of the infection.

Alliance for Safe Community chairman, Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye however said the government should ensure the supply of vaccine is adequate so that the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme proceeded smoothly as scheduled.

"The government needs to discuss the matter with suppliers to avoid a shortage of vaccine in the country and that no Malaysians are left out in the immunisation plan.

"An efficient and smooth implementation of the immunisation programme would ensure no wastage of vaccine doses," he told Bernama here today.

He also stressed the importance of effective strategic communication in delivering information on vaccine to the people to counter the dissemination of fake news on the vaccine.

Lee said the failure to stem out fake news which were intended to create fear among the people could jeopardise the implementation of the national immunisation programme.

A total of 312,390 doses of COVID-19 vaccine arrived safely when a special aircraft transporting the first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech landed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) this morning.

The Airbus 330-300 plane carrying the vaccine touched down at 10.07 am and was sent to 16 storage locations nationwide with six in Selangor, Johor (4), Kuala Lumpur (3), Penang (2) and one in Putrajaya.

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Dr Noor Hisham will be among the first recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine jab on Wednesday which signals the start of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme which was mobilised earlier than the original schedule.

-- BERNAMA