KUCHING, April 9: Malaysia is still far behind the pace it needs to hit its target of vaccinating 80 per cent of the population or 26.7 million people and yet made the decision to help the Bosnian government with 50,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine.
As such, Democratic Action Party (DAP) Batu Kitang chairman Abdul Aziz Isa has lashed out at the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government for not getting its priority right which was to take care of its people first before considering humanitarian action.
“We can’t even fully vaccinate at least 10 per cent of our population by monthly average and yet the PN government is bothered to help the Bosnian government.
“There is one Malay proverb that suits this decision – ‘Kera di hutan disusukan, anak di rumah mati kelaparan (the monkey in the jungle is fed with milk while the child at home dies of starvation),” he said in a statement today.
He claimed that since the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NCIP) started on Feb 23, only 306,803 people (or one per cent) out of 33.42 million of Malaysia’s population have been fully vaccinated.
“On the other hand, 523,233 people (1.6 per cent) have received at least one dose. From this figure, it shows that 97.4 per cent of our population have yet to receive the vaccine,” he shared.
At this pace, he pointed out that Malaysia is not even close to achieving the national target of inoculating at least 80 per cent of Malaysia’s population when many in the frontline such as doctors, nurses, police, firefighters, armed forces, teachers and others are not even fully vaccinated yet.
Aziz, who is also special assistant to Chong Chieng Jen, thus questioned where was the logic behind this decision.
“The only group that has been fully vaccinated is the elected and appointed representatives (senators, members of Parliament, state assemblymen and councillors) but yet the Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies are not allowed to convene due to the Emergency Order,” he added.
Aziz was responding to the news that Malaysia has agreed to despatch 50,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as other countries that did not receive priority through Covid-19 Vaccine Global Access (Covax) facility.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Functions) Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof said the aid would be channelled in the name of humanity and the cabinet concurred with the decision on April 7.
“We are not against the decision based on humanitarian ground. However, in the midst of this pandemic, the PN government should put their priority right and lead this beloved country into the right direction under NCIP by fully vaccinating at least 80 per cent of our population first.
“Once that target is achieved, then the government of Malaysia can consider to play an active role in the international development programme to despatch 50,000 doses to Bosnia-Herzegovina in the name of humanitarianism,” he emphasised. — DayakDaily
