Sabah is buying 250,000 doses
Published on: Sunday, August 08, 2021
Masidi (second left) and Salleh (third right) witnessing the exchange of the Supply and Distribution Agreement between WH Medicare and Pharmaniaga Lifescience.
Kota Kinabalu: The State Government in efforts to achieve herd immunity by the end of 2021 has chosen wholly owned investment arm, Qhazanah Sabah Group to be the assisting body to ensure sufficient and fast deployment of vaccines in the State.Qhazanah Sabah Group Chairman Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak said the procurement of 250,000 doses that can cater to 125,000 patients is underway.
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“Qhazanah Group, through our wholly-owned subsidiary WH Medicare, has committed to procure Sinovac CoronaVac vaccine from Pharmaniaga LifeScience Sdn Bhd.
“As the Chairman of Qhazanah, I thank the State Government for choosing Qhazanah to assist,” said Salleh.
The purchase of the vaccine was confirmed through the signing of a Supply and Distribution Agreement (SDA) between WH Medicare Sdn Bhd and Pharmaniaga LifeScience Sdn Bhd at the State Adminstration Centre (PPNS).
The signing was witnessed by State Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun and Salleh.
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This purchase addresses the challenges stated by Masidi, who is also State Finance Minister II, about the two factors that would affect efficiency of the vaccine rollout.
“The two challenges we face are capacity to vaccinate and sufficient supply of vaccine that will be delivered according to a fixed schedule,” said Masidi.
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Currently, Sabah is focused on implementing Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) on affected areas and this has managed to control the number of infection cases compared to the rest of the states in the country.
However, this measure brings an additional challenge that ties to the temporary stop to economic activities of the people.
It brings the upscaling of vaccination rollout to an utmost priority in the State’s agenda.
Vaccination is the best global guarantee to co-exist with the Covid-19 virus where the main function is to reduce the likelihood of severe stage infection and, hence, reduces the risk of death.
Achieving herd immunity is the best way for the Government to continue serving its social obligation to protect the people whilst ensuring that the economic activities would not cease completely and livelihood of the people will not be adversely affected.
As of Aug 2, some 907,248 out of the registered population had received the first dose. However, the increase in daily cases remains and herd immunity has to be achieved in order to tackle both the safety net and economic challenges of the people.
Salleh said the important feature that the Group was looking at before agreeing to procure is efficiency of supply.
“This is why we chose Pharmaniaga LifeScience as our partner. The product is filled and finished in the factory here in Malaysia where logistics and distribution will be less of an issue.
“What matters is the vaccine is available when and as we need them. This is what we are offering to the State,” said Salleh.
During the signing, Masidi urged big companies to get their employees vaccinated, saying it is reasonable to allow companies to operate on a 100 per cent capacity if all the eligible employees and their family members are vaccinated.
Masidi, who is also Sabah Covid-19 Spokesperson, also acknowledged the pressing need to re-open economic activities and, hence, all measures would be taken to facilitate this.
“Through Qhazanah, Sabah now has accessibility to vaccine supply. The rollout for this vaccine supply will be brought forward to the Cabinet for further discussion and refinement,” he said.
Salleh responded positively to this initiative and said that WH Medicare would work closely with the State Government.
“Qhazanah Sabah, through WH Medicare, is ready to play an active role in assisting the Government to implement measures that will enable the people of Sabah to live safely in this time of uncertainty.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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