JOHOR BAHRU: The Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Almarhum Sultan Iskandar today expressed his disappointment with the state's slow rate of COVID-19 vaccination.

In this regard, he urged the federal government to ramp up the vaccination drive and increase vaccine supplies to Johor because to date, only 10 per cent of the state's 3.78 million population have been vaccinated through the National COVID-19 Immunisation Plan.

"The vaccination rate is still low and should be improved immediately.

"The Johor government machinery is prepared to provide 50,000 vaccine shots a day, with the target of vaccinating 50 per cent of the population in the state within two months," Sultan Ibrahim said in a post on official Facebook page today.

He said this after granting an audience to Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Hasni Mohammad, Johor State secretary Datuk Azmi Rohani, State Legal advisor Amir Nasruddin and Johor Health director, Datuk Dr Aman Rabu.

Sultan Ibrahim also expressed his concern that infections at workplaces, industrial areas and construction sites have become the major contributors to the daily COVID-19 tally.

The Ruler said the situation becomes worse when statistics showed that 69 per cent of new cases are sporadic within the community where the source of infection could not be ascertained.

"The best solution is to vaccinate all people immediately. This has proven to be successful in many countries that have implemented the vaccination," he said.

Meanwhile, according to an infographic posted on the Johor Health Department's Facebook page, a total of 530,193 vaccine doses have been administered in the state, as of June 20.

Of the total 370,186 were first doses while 160,007 were for the second dose.

-- BERNAMA