MALAYSIA INKS DEAL FOR VACCINE PURCHASE

Malaysia signed a deal to purchase the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine from British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

Addressing media on Saturday, Malaysian Health Minister Adham Baba said the country reached an agreement with AstraZeneca for the purchase of vaccines, according to Anadolu news agency.

The vaccines are planned to be brought to the country in February next year and will be enough to vaccinate 20 percent of Malaysians, the minister said.

Last month, Malaysia announced that it had reached an agreement with Pfizer to purchase enough doses to vaccinate its 6.4 million citizens.

Last week, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that the government is planning to buy more Covid-19 vaccines to immunize as many as 70 percent of the population.

“As for Malaysia, we have already got 30 percent. I have instructed Health Minister Datuk Seri Adham Baba along with Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar [Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation] to negotiate and increase it from 30 percent-60 percent or 70 percent,” Yassin said.

The Southeast Asian country has reported 91,969 COVID-19 cases with 433 deaths so far.

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