By Ling Hui and Cornelius Kadir Edison
KUCHING, April 2: It will not be an easy task for Sarawak to purchase Covid-19 vaccines directly from suppliers.
Though in principle there is no obstruction to it, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said there are countries which have been unable to procure any vaccine yet.
“This has been mentioned earlier in many of the Covid-19 meetings which I chaired. We have promised that there will be no problem for all Malaysians and even non-Malaysians in the country to get free vaccination and we are now doing it.
“The question could be that whether they (Sarawak) can purchase directly the vaccines from the suppliers, this is something that I think is not easy.
“Because not only states, but there are countries that are having a hard time getting the supply,” he told reporters during a press conference after a visit to inspect the progress of the upgrading works at Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) here today.
Touching on additional doses of vaccines for Sarawak, Muhyiddin said it has been agreed to but the problem lies in the supply where the vaccines are released in batches from the suppliers.
Considering the needs of other states as well, he said vaccine distribution to all states from Kuala Lumpur has to be done in stages.
“It is not that we don’t supply because we don’t want to supply; the issue lies within the suppliers where we don’t receive all of the vaccine doses at one time.
“Some of it arrives tomorrow, some of it arrives the day after tomorrow, so we have to send it out by batches. If the suppliers follow a certain schedule, we are all forced to wait. That is the issue,” he said.
Also present at the press conference were Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, Minister for Local Government and Housing Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian and Minister of Works Dato Sri Fadillah Yusof. — DayakDaily
