Walk-in vaccination for senior citizens extended nationwide

PUTRAJAYA: Walk-in vaccination for senior citizens aged 60 and above will be extended throughout the country from next week, said National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

The direct vaccination approach which began in the Klang Valley on July 17, allows people in the group to walk into any vaccination centres in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor for vaccine shots.

According to Khairy, the current statistics at national level saw 95 per cent of senior citizens registered to receive COVID-19 vaccine jabs.

In a media conference on the development of PICK here today, Khairy said the COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) has decided to extend walk-in vaccination implemented in the Klang Valley to all states.

He said the move was to assist each state achieve the threshold value of 40 per cent of the adult population with two-dose immunisation by Aug 31.

Towards the objective, Khairy said PICK has set two criteria in deliverying vaccines to all states which are outbreak control and states with low rate of vaccination.

"We want to ensure states with low rate of vaccination to be assisted towards achieving the 40 per cent threshold value," he said.

On the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines, Khairy said to date the country has received 11.34 million doses of Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine, 2.41 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine and 14.4 million doses of Sinovac vaccine.

He also said CITF would be discussing on the need to procure additional Sinovac vaccine in the meeting of the Special Committee on COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) this Friday.

On allegations that Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine manufacturer would be raising prices, Khairy said the government's negotiation with the manufacturer for purchase in 2022 will be commencing.

"We have not finalised the procurement required by Malaysia including the selling price," he said.

-- BERNAMA