KUALA LUMPUR: The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme will kick-off on Wednesday, two days ahead of the original schedule of Feb 26.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said it would see Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham being the first vaccine recipients at the Putrajaya's government clinic.
The duo are expected to be inoculated after the weekly Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
"We've decided to start early as everything is ready, and the necessary preparations by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency's (NPRA), including inspection to ensure the delivery is in order. This inspection is conducted to ensure that it (the vaccine) is of high quality and without defect.
"Instead of waiting for Friday, the prime minister has agreed that the inoculation against Covid-19 starts on Wednesday and is carried out in stages nationwide until April under the first phase," he said.
Khairy revealed this in a press conference via Zoom after the first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) earlier today.
Also present were Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong and Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said that the second batch of Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine will arrive on Feb 26, and the subsequent batches would arrive every two weeks until the order from the company is completed.
The vaccines were also being ferried by land transportation from Singapore and are expected to arrive at 2pm today, as well as reach Penang at 6pm by flight, he said.
The Covid-19 vaccines would be stored in 16 locations identified nationwide, namely, four in Johor, two in Penang, six in Selangor, three in Kuala Lumpur, and one in Putrajaya.
In total, he said 54 locations would be used for the vaccines' storage including Sabah and Sarawak.
"Meanwhile, Covid-19 Sinovac vaccines from China will arrive in Malaysia on Feb 27, pending approval by the NPRA.
"A total of 271,802 frontliners including those from the health sector have registered for the National Immunisation Programme's first phase."
He said about 57.3 per cent of the total who registered were health practitioners, and the remaining were non-health personnel including the police, armed forces, Immigration Department personnel, Fire and Rescue Department officers; and members of the People's Volunteer Corps (Rela).
The second phase will be conducted between April and August this year for senior citizens aged 60 and above and high-risk groups.
The third phase, for those aged 18 and above, will start in May this year and is expected to be completed by February next year.
The government plans to vaccinate at least 80 per cent of the population or around 26.6 million people in the country's biggest vaccination drive ever.