The Malaysian government will be expediting the vaccine rollout for the masses to the end of April, due to low registration numbers.
As Malaysia executes the second phase of the vaccine rollout campaign, targeted for senior citizens and high-risk individuals with comorbidities, low registration numbers are making the government reassess their rollout schedule for the masses, initially planned to kick off in May 2021.
General sign-ups remained low as of Sunday (April 4), with less than a quarter of Malaysia’s 33 million people have signed up for vaccination, and with most states – the exception being administrative capital Putrajaya – seeing a sign-up rate of below 50 percent.
READ: What Happens After You Get Vaccinated?
“For now, demand is still higher than supply. The level of registration needs to be reassessed around July. If we see that the level of supply overtakes demand, we will have to consider some further options,” Mr. Khairy told a press briefing on Monday.
Malaysia aims to achieve herd immunity by the end of the year at the earliest by inoculating 80 percent of its population, and are currently considering incentive programs to drive the number of registrations for the inoculation, on top of increasing awareness and education regarding the vaccine, registration process, and inoculation centers.
Resourced from Straits Times
