ISKANDAR PUTERI: The government has targeted over 200,000 individuals to receive their COVID-19 vaccination shots daily beginning July, and over 300,000 individuals daily from August onwards.

National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the steps to achieve the targeted numbers included opening more vaccination centres throughout the country.

"This is one of the reasons that have made me visit several states, including Johor, to ensure the opening of more large-scale vaccination centres, thus increasing the number of vaccinations among the public.

"If we can do this, I am confident we can achieve our target of vaccinating 80 per cent of the population by October," he said during a media conference after chairing the COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) meeting with Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Hasni Mohammad at Bangunan Dato' Jaafar here today.

Khairy, who is also Science, Technology and Innovation Minister said along with the addition of large-scale vaccination centres, the government is doing its best to ensure adequate manpower through partnerships with the private sector and seeking assistance from medical professionals like housemen, retired doctors and nurses, as well as medical students.

"Malaysia has finalised the delivery schedule of 25 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines that will be sent in the third quarter of this year, beginning July and throughout August and September. We now have more clarity on the delivery schedule of the Sinovac vaccine and is currently working out the delivery schedule of the AstraZeneca vaccine as there are some changes there," he said.

Commenting on the CITF meeting today, Khairy said the first industry vaccination centre in the state is expected to open on June 16, specially for workers at the Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) complex in Pengerang, Kota Tinggi besides in Mount Austin, Johor Bahru at the end of this month.

"We have also received Johor's proposal to deploy mobile and drive-through PPVs... If the vaccine supply is not disrupted, we can complete vaccinating three million Johorians by the end of October," he added.

Meanwhile, Hasni said the state government has suggested several other locations to the federal government to be turned into private vaccination centres besides the AstraZeneca vaccination centre at the Persada Johor International Convention Centre (Persada) to achieve the target of 50,000 vaccination shots daily till October.

This includes setting up private vaccination centres at shopping malls or drive-thru centres at theme parks as well as several private centres in Batu Pahat, Pagoh and Kluang districts, he added.

In addition, Hasni said the state government will not implement mass COVID-19 screening tests and will instead conduct targeted screenings in high-risk areas.

"A total of 20,000 Antigen Rapid Test (RTK-Ag) screening kits will be used for targeted screenings in Johor Bahru following a rise in COVID-19 cases reported in the district," he said.

The RTK-Ag screening kits received from Singapore through Sultan Ibrahim foundation, he said, would provide results in around five minutes with an accuracy of 98 per cent, to help the early detection of COVID-19 infections in Johor Bahru.

-- BERNAMA