Procurement of low dead-volume syringes underway - Dr Adham

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry (MOH) is carrying out the procurement of ‘low dead-volume’ syringes, needed to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine injections, with local and foreign companies, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba.

He said this type of syringe was needed and appropriate for the vaccine because it could avoid wastage and maximise the number of doses to be given, especially in the first phase of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme which will begin on Feb 26.

“The vaccine should be administered carefully because we need to avoid wastage and this syringe also meets the specifications requested by the Pfizer company,” he told reporters after receiving a contribution of 1,000,000 personal protective equipment from Eu Smart Solution Holdings Sdn Bhd, here, today.

Low dead-volume syringes generally refer to zero-waste syringes, thus ensuring that the recipient of the injection receives the entire dose of vaccine he or she needs.

Last Saturday, Dr Adham was reported to have said that the MOH needed 12 million low dead-volume syringes to inject 20 per cent of the country’s population or six million recipients in the first phase of the vaccination programme.

Dr Adham said the low dead-volume syringes would be placed at all vaccination sites that have been identified throughout the country.

“For the vaccine, we need to have complete equipment and I am confident with all the preparations available, we will be able to administer the vaccine carefully which in turn can protect the people from COVID-19,” he said.

Dr Adham said 6,542,418 Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction and Antigen Rapid Test Kit screening tests were conducted from Jan 24, 2020 until Saturday (Feb 6).

“The tests conducted has helped the MOH in detecting positive cases quickly and enabled rapid contact tracing.

“I request those who have had close contact with positive cases to provide complete information to the District Health Office to enable action to be carried out on the transmission of COVID-19,” he added.

-- BERNAMA