New Delhi (NVI): Malaysia has signed a deal with AstraZeneca to secure 6.4 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said.
In a televised address, the Malaysian PM said, “The government is also in final negotiations with China’s Sinovac, CanSino Biologics and Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute, part of a plan to get supplies to cover more than 80% of the population, or 26.5 million people.”
The country expects to spend $504.4 million on the shots, he added.
Earlier in November, the government had signed a to secure 12.8 million doses from Pfizer-BioNTech covid vaccine and is also sourcing vaccines from the World Health Organization’s COVAX programme.
Under the Pfizer deal, Malaysia expects to receive one million doses in the first quarter of 2021, with vaccinations expected to begin in February. The remaining doses of the vaccine, which requires ultra-cold storage, will arrive in subsequent quarters.
After keeping the coronavirus in check for much of the year, Malaysia has been battling a third wave of infections, which accelerated after a state election in the Borneo state of Sabah in September and then spread to Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding areas.
So far, the country has reported 95,327 coronavirus infections and 438 people have died from the deadly contagion.
-CHK
