I had read the announcement by the Penang State EXCO for Health that the Selangor state government and Menteri Besar Amirudin bin Shari is allowing Penang to borrow 200,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines from Selangor to meet the shortages caused by the disruption of Pfizer supplies. I did not see any announcement that 20,000 doses of vaccines will also be donated by Amirudin to Penang.
Since the 200,000 doses are borrowed this would mean that they would have to be returned to Selangor later. Any effort to ensure regular supply of vaccines is welcomed since a day’s delay may cause a high risk of loss of life. I understand that this is the arrangement made by the COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) to return the borrowed 200,000 doses later to Selangor since there is an expiry date to the 2.5 million vaccines purchased by the Selangor state government.
I had discussed with the Selangor Menteri Besar at a private meeting on 23 August 2021 and Amiruddin had proposed to donate 20,000 doses to Penang. No mention was made of Penang borrowing 200,000 doses because this was a decision that could only be made by CITF to return the borrowed vaccines later.
Apart from the 200,000 borrowed vaccines that are to be returned later, there should also be clarification on Amiruddin’s proposed donation of 20,000 doses of vaccines. Amiruddin also said that his decision to purchase the 2.5 million doses of vaccines is proven to be correct so as not to rely completely on the previous Federal government’s promises of prompt vaccine delivery.
Otherwise, Selangor would face similar problems like Kelantan where the Kelantan Menteri Besar’s decision yesterday to try to purchase vaccines after the disruption in delivery and supply. Amirudin said his correct decision to purchase the vaccine would allow for the critical third booster shots and facilitate the Klang Valley high first dose vaccination rate of 109.9% of the adult population on 25 August.