GEORGE TOWN: Penang wants the Health Ministry to approve its request to accept a donation of two million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from a private company to the state government.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the vaccine donation would be beneficial to the people of Penang and expedite the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) to achieve herd immunity.
He said, by granting approval to the state government to accept the vaccine donation, the ministry could distribute vaccines it purchased for Penang to other states.
"If Sarawak and Selangor are allowed to purchase their own vaccines, why can't the Health Ministry grant approval to the Penang government to accept the vaccine donation? The cases here are escalating and there is a need for us to speed up vaccination.
"The people are angry with this kind of inconsistencies and double standards. They want the Health Ministry to explain why this is happening," he told newsmen here today.
Elaborating, Chow said the private company had in February offered the state government two million doses of China's Sinovac vaccine for the people of Penang.
He said the state secretary had written to the ministry's secretary-general then for approval to accept the two million doses of vaccine but was rejected in a letter dated March 12.
Chow said, at that time, the Sinovac vaccine was not approved for use yet.
"Now that the Sinovac vaccine has been approved for use, we hope the Health Ministry will grant us approval to accept the vaccine donation.
"We have checked with the private company and the offer still stands. It is just that we may not get the two million doses now as it will depend on the supply in the market," he added.
Chow said the state was seeking approval from the Health Ministry to accept the vaccine donation out of courtesy.
"The ministry can just easily give a yes or no," he added.
Meanwhile, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, who was at the press conference, expressed shock over Chow's revelation and anger over the Health Ministry's rejection.
He said all frontliners, including the media, and those in the high-risk group would have been vaccinated by now if the vaccine donation was allowed.
"The state should just accept the vaccine donation and not wait for approval. If they want to punish us after that, we will just accept the punishment.
"This is a crime... political donations are allowed and not vaccine donation. How can this happen?" he added.