Showing posts with label Khairy Jamaluddin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Khairy Jamaluddin. Show all posts

Wednesday 8 September 2021

A strong start by the Health Minister, and more is needed

The Malaysian Health Coalition (MHC) welcomes the strong start by Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, and note the recent evaluation criteria that he set for the Ministry of Health (MOH). We hope to see the entire MOH machinery, as well as inter-agency collaborations, be mobilized to achieve these goals.

We urge the following:

1. Clarify the specific policy changes for an endemic COVID

The Minister stated that Malaysia “can expect to move into an endemic COVID-19 phase” by the end of October 2021. The MOH must clearly communicate this new strategy to the public by announcing the specific policy changes to its COVID-19 responses. Controlling virus transmissibility,  routine vaccination programmes, efficient testing, and improving healthcare capacity, are among the areas that require clear policy shifts, so that we can treat COVID-19 as part of daily Malaysian life. We urge some caution in labelling COVID-19 as endemic, unless these parts of our health system are strengthened. Otherwise, we risk a complacent population or a public administration that stops focusing on COVID-19.

2. Involve expertise from outside MOH when making decisions.

We believe that it is the Minister’s right to build a team which he feels comfortable working with. Nevertheless, we recommend the Minister to get appropriate health advisors and implementation partners, especially from among health experts outside the MOH. Therefore, we urge that non-MOH health advisors and implementation partners be systematically embedded within the decision-making and implementation process, rather than be consulted on an ad hoc basis. A good working model is the Greater Klang Valley Task Force. The MHC and our member organisations are ready to assist.

3. Establish phased Key Performance Indexes (KPIs) for 30-60-90 Days

We commend the Minister’s 100 Day KPIs. However, as we are in the middle of a raging pandemic, some urgent measures must be taken earlier than the 100 days. Therefore, we suggest the Minister agrees on a phased set of KPIs to be achieved within 30, 60, and 90 days, together with MOH and non-MOH experts. This phased KPIs must be publicized for accountability, and also to unite all of Malaysia to achieve these KPIs together. These phased KPIs must be merged with the National Recovery Plan, Budget 2022 and Rancangan Malaysia ke-12, where Health must be at the forefront of all policy considerations.

We must now make up for some lost time due to the political instability of the last 18-months. Therefore, we stand behind the new Health Minister as he leads the MOH to turn the COVID-19 tide in Malaysia’s favour. We will fulfill our duties as responsible health professionals and citizens.

Read here (Malaysian Health Coalition (MHC), Sept 9, 2021)

Wednesday 12 May 2021

The AstraZeneca vaccination system must be scrapped – P Gunasegaram

‘The original proposal for Covid-19 vaccinations was a good one but concerns over the AstraZeneca vaccine have elicited a wrong response from the government, leading to a system that enabled jumping a queue that already exists.

‘The AstraZeneca vaccination system needs to be scrapped after its first roll-out and amalgamated into the existing one, especially since it was reported that Malaysia is soon to receive a million more doses of AstraZeneca under the Covax facility, which enables countries to get vaccines. It would be a major disaster if this is done through the alternative booking process because it seriously compromises the earlier queuing system.

‘Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who is responsible for the coordination of vaccinations, erred when he allowed a parallel system of vaccination, which is unfair because it bypasses a system already in place which prioritises vaccinations according to need.’

Read here (The Vibes, May 13, 2021)

Wednesday 5 May 2021

Is the first come first served vaccine rollout scientifically and ethically right? — Dr Musa Mohd Nordin

‘This narrative may not go down very well with the many young Malaysians who have successfully secured their AstraZeneca-University Oxford (AZ) doses. It was a frantic scrambling by the tech savvy for the 268,000 doses of the AZ vaccine. All vaccine doses were snapped within a space of four hours. Now that they have jumped the queue, some of them have even begun to rationalize the legitimacy of the first come first served vaccine roll out!...

‘The risk of being admitted to hospital and of dying from COVID in a 70 year old is 1786 and 906 times respectively, when compared to the risk of suffering from a blood clot.

‘Thus my suggestion to prioritize the AZ vaccine rollout in the high infection rate states, namely Sarawak, Kelantan, KL and Selangor, with the first right of refusal to the groups at the highest risk of severe COVID disease and deaths, i.e. those above 60 years old. Only when these high-risk elders have been protected, then the AZ vaccine can be offered to others. This makes medical sense and it is the ethically right response, within the context of limited vaccine supplies and the presently known risk benefit analysis.’

Read here (The Malay Mail, May 5, 2021)

Sunday 18 April 2021

10 questions for Khairy on Covid-19 vaccinations: Ong Kian Ming & Kelvin Yii (April 16). Khairy replies on April 18

‘In the lead-up to the start of phase two of the National Covid-19 Vaccination Programme, there are many questions which need to be asked and hopefully answered. We commend the job which Coordinating Minister of the Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme Khairy Jamaluddin has carried out thus far under challenging circumstances. We hope that he can respond to the following 10 questions as phase two starts on April 19.

Read here (Malaysiakini, Apr 16, 2021)

Read Khairy’s reply here (The Vibes, Apr 18, 2021)

Friday 9 April 2021

‘Tough decision’ in September on mandatory vaccination - Khairy Jamaluddin

‘Drastic measures including mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations are on the cards once Malaysia’s vaccination campaign reaches a “critical point” in September, said the campaign’s coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin. He said Malaysia will begin receiving an influx of vaccine deliveries in June, particularly from Pfizer and Sinovac, and supply will outpace demand in June or July.

‘By September, it is expected that vaccine administration rates will begin to slow not because of lack of vaccine doses or staff to administer it, but the lack of people willing to receive the vaccines. “So I told the cabinet that I'm going to come back in September and advise cabinet whether or not we go for mandatory vaccinations in September. That is going to be a big call.’

Read here (Malaysiakini, April 9, 2021)

Monday 29 March 2021

Khairy: Next phase of Malaysia’s Covid-19 vaccine plan to start April 19, eligible recipients to get two weeks’ notice for appointments

‘Phase two of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) will kick off on April 19, with appointment reminders sent out to eligible recipients two weeks ahead. Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin said a total of 2 million people — senior citizens, high-risk groups, the chronically ill, and people with disabilities — have so far registered for vaccination under the second phase.

“We will begin issuing appointment notices through instant messaging, phone calls and MySejahtera to those who have been chosen to be listed under this second phase on April 5,” he told a press conference here. The second phase of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme is expected to be carried out from April to August.’

Read here (Malay Mail, Mar 29, 2021)

Malaysia to allow private hospitals to procure Covid-19 vaccines, run parallel vaccination drive in second half of 2021

‘Malaysia will allow its private healthcare providers to open negotiations to procure their own Covid-19 vaccine supplies, the government said on Monday (March 29).

‘However, the country's coordinating minister for its immunisation programme, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin, tempered expectations by warning that a private sector vaccine roll-out - which would allow individuals to pay for their own Covid-19 vaccine - might take place only in the second half of 2021.

‘Mr Khairy said that he would hold discussions with private hospitals about allowing them to procure vaccines, following a request by the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia (APHM) to run a parallel vaccination drive along with the government's free vaccination programme to help the country achieve herd immunity against the coronavirus.’

Read here (Straits Times, Mar 29, 2021)

Monday 15 March 2021

Covid-19: Only 0.11% of 300,000 vaccine recipients so far are govt officials, elected reps, says Khairy

‘Only 0.11% of the 300,000 Covid-19 vaccine recipients in Malaysia so far are government officials and elected representatives, says Khairy Jamaluddin. The coordinating minister of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme said the 0.11% constituted 302 people, while the rest are mostly healthcare workers.

“Based on the breakdown of the 292,104 people who have been vaccinated as of March 13, they comprise 23.86% nurses, 22.23% doctors and 23.4% other healthcare workers such as medical assistants, X-ray specialists and ambulance drivers. Another 21.33% are frontline workers from the armed forces, police, civil defence force, Rela (people’s volunteer corps) and Customs officers, among others. Another 5.62% are dentists while 3.45% are pharmacists.”

Read here (The Star, Mar 15, 2021)

Sunday 14 March 2021

Khairy set to be first recipient of Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine this Thursday

‘Malaysia will start using the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine this Thursday, with the Coordinating Minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, Khairy Jamaluddin, becoming the first recipient of the Chinese-produced vaccine.

‘Announcing the matter in a press conference on the development of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme here today, Khairy said that he would receive the Sinovac vaccine at the Rembau Hospital, Negri Sembilan.’

Read here (Malay Mail, Mar 15, 2021)

Khairy: No charges for Covid-19 vaccination at private facilities

‘Individuals who get an appointment for Covid-19 vaccine injection at private hospitals or clinics involved in the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme will not have to pay any charges, said National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. 

“The charges are borne by the government,” he told a press conference on developments involving the progamme here today. 

‘Elaborating, Khairy, who is Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, said Covid-19 vaccination centres (PPV) are set based on the address registered by the individual through the MySejahtera application. 

“If the vaccination centre near the address given is a private hospital, then they will go to that private hospital. Everything is based on location because we want to facilitate this immunisation programme,” he said.

Read here (Malay Mail, Mar 15, 2021)

Tuesday 9 March 2021

Khairy welcomes private sector procuring approved Covid-19 vaccines

“With regards to the purchase of vaccines by the private sector, as I have mentioned yesterday, most of the vaccine manufacturers only carry out negotiations with governments,” Khairy responded to Najib in a comment on his Facebook post...

“But if there are private parties who are able to carry out negotiations with vaccine manufacturers, especially those that have received approval from the NPRA (National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency) (Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Sinovac), please do so. I really welcome it,” added the science, technology and innovation minister. 

‘Previously, Malaysian-based pharmaceutical company Pharmaniaga Bhd announced that it planned to sell some of its Sinovac vaccine doses to the private sector. Pharmaniaga is undertaking the fill-and-finish processing of Sinovac’s vaccine. Solution Biologics, the distributor of Chinese CanSino’s vaccine, has also expressed plans to supply private health care providers with the vaccine, on top of selling 3.5 million doses to the Malaysian government.’ 

Read here (Code Blue, Mar 10, 2021)

Thursday 11 February 2021

Khairy: Non-citizens to receive free Covid-19 vaccines to ensure everyone is safe

‘Malaysia will only be safe from the Covid-19 pandemic if the people, including foreign citizens living here, receive the vaccines, said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. He said that even if Malaysians were to receive the vaccines, it would not mean they are safe because Malaysia has about three million foreigners who are likely to cause the virus to spread and infect Malaysians.

“That is why this (giving free vaccines to non-citizens) needs to be done because we are not safe until everyone is safe. In vaccine science, if there are more vaccine recipients, then we are safe and the virus cannot infect others. As such, we are targeting 80 per cent of the population to create group immunity and form enough antibodies so that the virus does not infect people in the country. If we (locals) are the only recipients, we will not be safe because they (foreigners) may still infect us, or the virus could spread among the foreigners. That is why it is important that we protect everyone. This is the right decision for the sake of humanity,” he said.’

Read here (Malay Mail, Feb 12, 2021)

Khairy: Registration for Covid-19 vaccination to start in March

‘Registration for Covid-19 vaccination to members of the public is expected to kick off in March and this will be on a volunteer basis, said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. 

He said there are five ways for the public to sign up for the vaccine, including via the MySejahtera application. “If they have no access to MySejahtera, they may go to the JKJAV (Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee) website, which will be launched by the prime minister next week.

“In addition there is the hotline (number to be fixed later), manual registration at public and private clinics and hospitals, and lastly, for people living in the rural areas, we will be working with the state government to get them to register the recipients including senior citizens,” he said during the Ruang Bicara programme aired on Bernama TV, yesterday...

‘The first phase, from February to April, is for the 500,000 frontliners who are directly involved in the fight against Covid-19, while the second phase, from April to August, for the high-risk group, comprising senior citizens aged 60 and above and the vulnerable group with morbidity problems, such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure, as well as persons with disabilities (PwD).

‘The third phase is from May to February next year and it is for those aged 18 and above.’

Read here (Malay Mail, Feb 12, 2021)

Thursday 14 January 2021

Khairy: If you’re a healthy Malaysian under 60 and not a frontliner, expect to be vaccinated only by Q3 2021 or even later

‘Malaysians who are not active frontliners, below the age of 60 and in relatively good health can expect to receive their dose of Covid-19 vaccinations only by the third-quarter of this year or later, the science, technology and innovation minister revealed today. Khairy Jamaluddin, also the Special Committee on Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) co-chair, said this is because the first batch of vaccines to arrive will be prioritised to inoculate those within vulnerable groups. 

“Frontline workers from the healthcare and security sectors will go first. Then senior citizens and people with chronic illnesses. Only then we will move on to the general population in order to get to a meaningful herd immunity threshold.’

Read here (The Malay Mail, Jan 14, 2021)

Wednesday 13 January 2021

Khairy explains Malaysia's vaccine procurement process, delivery schedule (full text)

‘As two of Malaysia's closest neighbours, Singapore and Indonesia, kicked off their vaccination programmes, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin wrote a blog post to give an update on what Malaysia's vaccine procurement process is like — why it is not slow in getting its vaccines — and the delivery schedule that Malaysians can expect. Khairy is also the co-chair of the Special Committee on Ensuring Access To Covid-19 Vaccine Supply.’

Read here (The Edge, Jan 14, 2021)

Sunday 27 December 2020

Covid-19 vaccines for Malaysia: A call for transparency in registration & purchasing

By Citizens’ Health Initiative (citizenhealthinitiative@gmail.com)

With the exception of the People’s Republic of China and a few other countries like New Zealand, Vietnam, Cuba, Senegal, and Kerala state in India, which seem to have largely brought Covid-19 under control without the help of vaccines, most countries are struggling with succeeding waves of the pandemic and a likely global spread of a more contagious mutant of SARS-CoV-2.  

The collateral damage to economic and social well-being worldwide has been unprecedented, and it underscores the urgently felt need for vaccines and a return to some semblance of normalcy.

Despite a major lapse with a 16,000 plus person religious gathering which erupted into several clusters locally and in the region (March 2020), Malaysia had performed creditably earlier.

Sources of current outbreaks

Unfortunately, since October 2020, a resurgence of clusters emerged from non-compliant returnees from abroad, and porous Sabah state border controls, exacerbated by lax enforcement of SOPs during the September 2020 Sabah state elections. 

Immigration and health authorities were not sufficiently pro-active to prevent its further spread in the peninsula, resulting in numerous outbreaks, especially among workers in congested accommodations and workplaces, and in prisons and detention centres.

Unlike Singapore’s experience with outbreaks in migrant dormitory complexes, we in Malaysia are additionally reaping the consequences of decades of corrupt mismanagement of labor migration, viz. a persistently large pool of undocumented migrant workers (currently estimated at 1.2-1.5 million) who have strong incentives to avoid contact with government agencies.   

Senior Minister Ismail Sabri’s disastrous U-turn in going after undocumented migrants (after initially promising them sanctuary and no arrests and deportation during the pandemic) greatly complicated pandemic control efforts, in particular the crucially important contact tracing.

As generally younger daily-paid workers, more likely to ride out the milder symptoms of Covid-19 infection, they are now even less inclined to cooperate in testing and isolation, given the risks of arrest, detention and deportation.

\We thus face the prospect of protracted and repeated seeding of the general population by the asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, especially undocumented workers reluctant to seek treatment unless severely ill. (We should also note that active avoidance of contact tracing and testing involves others disinclined to divulge network contacts or contact history, e.g. underworld elements, drug and sexual encounters, etc).

As in many other countries, many Malaysians support efforts to secure vaccines to enhance pandemic control efforts.

Procuring vaccines for Malaysia

The minister for Science, Technology, and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin has announced commitments to purchase a basket of Covid-19 vaccines, and options for further orders .

Khairy Jamaluddin needs to be transparent about the technical rationales, criteria, and pricing for his ministry’s purchasing decisions.  In particular, he needs to respond to very pertinent points raised by the Covid Research Centre (KL) , chest specialist Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj , and others, which include the following:

  • there is currently little information on long-term safety beyond 2 months or on durability of protection, for all candidate or approved vaccines (any late-manifesting adverse effects will only be detected by conscientious follow-up surveillance, monitoring, and reporting systems).  This is especially pertinent for novel mRNA vaccines, in comparison with the more familiar inactivated whole-virus vaccines with which we have decades of experience
  • the decision by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to grant immunity to Pfizer from legal liability for late-manifesting adverse effects, and the Pfizer CEO declining to be among the early vaccinees (claiming selflessness in prioritising those more vulnerable, in contrast to some vaccine researchers who vaccinated themselves even before phase 1 human trials) perhaps reflects the true risk perception or assessment of the pharmaceutical corporations (whose profitable research and development work has been highly subsidised by governments for ‘vaccine nationalist’ reasons)
  • stringent logistic requirements (deep-freeze or ultra-low temperature facilities) for the mass deployment of mRNA vaccines to under-served remote areas
  • one additional advantage of the inactivated whole-virus vaccine is that the host immune response is mounted against a spectrum of antigens from the whole virus, rather than against a much more limited array of antigenic sub-components of say, the spike protein.  This could provide some insurance against mutations, say in the coding sequences for the spike protein, which might render vaccines directed solely against the spike protein wholly or partially ineffective.

Beyond the immediate urgency of securing access to adequate quantities of safe, efficacious and affordable vaccines, the larger question of our continuing dependency on foreign vaccine developers, producers and suppliers remains unaddressed.

National capabilities in production of medicines and vaccines

Consider Cuba, a nation of 12 million citizens hamstrung by a 60-year economic blockade by the US, which has invested in human and material resources to become a biotech power-house:  recombinant hepatitis B vaccines, synthetic polysaccharide vaccine against Haemophilus influenzae type B , CIMAvax vaccine against lung cancer , and innovative treatment of diabetic foot ulcers.

Cuba’s repeated offers of scientific collaboration in R&D, and joint ventures to position Malaysia as a regional production and distribution platform for Southeast Asia , have elicited only a lukewarm response.  Tan Sri Dr Abu Bakar Suleiman, the retired Director General of Health, has shown greater foresight and entrepreneurial verve as chairman of Bioven , which is shepherding CIMAvax through US-FDA and UK phase 3 clinical trials .

It is not too late to make the necessary strategic decisions for a promising growth area (pharmaceuticals and vaccines) in the national and regional economies of the newly launched RCEP.

For more information/clarifications, please contact:

  • Chan Chee Khoon     cheekhoon50@gmail.com 
  • Chee Heng Leng        cheehengleng@gmail.com 

Endorsers

  • Aliran
  • Citizens’ Health Initiative
  • Freedom
  • Kuala Lumpur & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) 
  • Malaysian Physicians for Social Responsibility (MPSR)
  • North South Initiative
  • Pengguna Pahang
  • Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)
  • Pergerakan Tenaga Akademik Malaysia (GERAK)
  • Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)
  •  Childline Foundation

Worst ever Covid variant? Omicron

John Campbell shares his findings on Omicron.  View here (Youtube, Nov 27, 2021)