PUTRAJAYA:The Ministry of Health (MOH) is in talks with pharmaceutical company Pfizer to obtain another 30 per cent supply of COVID-19 vaccine, COMIRNATY (Concentrate For Dispersion For Injection) produced by Pfizer-BioNTech.

Its Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said said the additional amount would cover 50 per cent of Malaysia's population.

The National COVID-19 Immunisation Plan Programme would be implemented earlier after the country was expected to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine earlier, he said at press conference here today.

Dr Adham was previously reported to have said that Malaysia would receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine a week earlier before the first phase of the national COVID-19 immunisation plan begins on Feb 26.

On Jan 11, the agreement for the delivery of the first phase of the COVID19 Pfizer-BioNTech was signed between the Malaysian government, through the MOH with Pfizer (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd.

The agreement involves the procurement of 12,799,800 doses of vaccine that will be supplied from the end of February, covering 20 per cent of Malaysia's population, with two doses per person.

Dr Adham said the supply would enable early shots to vaccinators who would be placed at 600 locations.

He said seven personnel would be stationed at each location adding that the ministry targeted that 120,000 people would receive the vaccine per day.

On measures taken by the MOH to ensure the smooth running of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Plan Programme, Dr Adham said it had conducted an online survey in December last year and found that 67 per cent of the 200,000 respondents agreed to take the vaccine.

He said that 17 per cent of the respondents said they were unsure and 16 per cent of them rejected the vaccine.

"The MOH has carried out several efforts to convince those who were unsure to take the vaccine," he said.

-- BERNAMA