KUALA LUMPUR: Health experts are rooting for more allocations under the 2021 Budget to secure access to Covid-19 vaccines and decisively defeat the pandemic.
Health systems and policies specialist Dr Khor Swee Kheng said the 2021 Budget should not focus solely on purchasing the vaccines, but also strengthening the country's vaccination programmes.
"The 2021 Budget must price in a multi-year vaccination programme. It must also consider some long-term aspects of the Covid-19 vaccination programme. The allocations should also include the cost for the implementation and logistics of a national vaccination programme, measures to increase vaccine confidence as well as a mechanism for adverse event reporting, among others.
"The government should also look into the need for physical or human capital infrastructure and how the Covid-19 infrastructure can be utilised for other vaccination programmes like polio and BCG," he told the New Straits Times yesterday.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said on Oct 16 he had proposed to the prime minister and finance minister to provide the first round of Covid-19 vaccines to all Malaysians and possibly permanent residents for free.
During his interview on BFM 89.9's Breakfast Grille, Khairy also said he had requested RM3 billion in the 2021 Budget to procure Covid-19 vaccines at a blended price of US$10 per dose.
However, Dr Khor argued that the allocation was a far cry from the estimated market price for Covid-19 vaccines.
"The minister (Khairy) has gone on record about applying for a RM3 billion allocation in the 2021 Budget for Covid-19 vaccines at a blended price of US$10 a dose.
"However, other news reports have indicated that Malaysian companies have signed deals with Chinese vaccine companies.
"The quoted price of US$10 also appears to be unreasonably low with international news reports quoting prices of Chinese vaccines at between US$60 and US$145.
"There should be more transparency about the actual prices and the Malaysian companies who are receiving these contracts."
Malaysian Public Health Physicians' Association president Datuk Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar opined that Covid-19 vaccines should be first administered to those in the high risk groups as well as frontliners.
"They should be the among the first to be given the vaccines when they are available. It can be later for younger individuals when the supply is enough for everybody," he said.
Echoing Dr Zainal, Universiti Putra Malaysia epideomiology and biostatistics expert Associate Professor Dr Malina Osman felt that the statistics of the population and those infected should be studied first before formulating an appropriate vaccination strategy.
"All these dates should then be examined cautiously. Vaccines should be given to all, but whether they have to pay or not would depend to the risk of anticipated severe complications as well as other social factors," she said.