{"id":18236,"date":"2020-12-23T13:40:04","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T05:40:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/?p=18236"},"modified":"2020-12-23T14:26:39","modified_gmt":"2020-12-23T06:26:39","slug":"singapore-received-vaccines-first-batch-while-malaysia-only-signing-agreement-with-astrazeneca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/singapore-received-vaccines-first-batch-while-malaysia-only-signing-agreement-with-astrazeneca\/","title":{"rendered":"Singapore received vaccine\u2019s first batch while Malaysia only signing agreement with AstraZeneca"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Media Statement by MP for Iskandar Puteri, Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on 22 December 2020:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What a contrast in news reports \u2013 Singapore  received its first batch of Pfizer\u2019s Covid-19 vaccine while Malaysian Prime Minister only signing agreement with AstraZeneca for an additional 6.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n

What a contrast in news reports \u2013 Singapore received its first batch of Pfizer\u2019s Covid-19 vaccine while Malaysian Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin only signing agreement with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for an additional 6.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Singapore is the first Asian country to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech shots after it said last week that it had approved the companies’ vaccine and is expected to begin a widespread vaccination programme in the first week of January with the aged and priority work first, and a target to vaccinate the entire population of 5.3 million as soon as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n

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A Malay Mail article<\/a> screenshot on Singapore receiving the vaccine.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n

Malaysia? The Prime Minister has just signed agreement for the procurement of an additional 10 percent or 6.4 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine for 40 percent of the population through Covax, Pfizer and AstraZeneca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thank the Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin for inviting me to his post-Cabinet press conference tomorrow on the pricing of Pfizer\u2019s Covid-19 vaccine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not in Kuala Lumpur and will not be in Putrajaya for his press conference, especially as I believe that Malaysian journalists are among the best in the world and can handle Khairy\u2019s press conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let Khairy tell Malaysians the pricing difference between Malaysia\u2019s procurement of Covid-19 vaccine with other countries like Belgium and Singapore.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And even more important, let Khairy announce that the vaccine will be free for all Malaysians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n

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A The Edge Market\u2019s article<\/a> screenshot of Malaysia\u2019s deal with AstraZeneca <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n

However, if the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is prepared to hold a press conference or a special function to announce that the government is finally prepared to adopt an  \u201call-of-government\u201d and \u201cwhole-of-society\u201d strategy and approach in the war against the third wave of Covid-19 pandemic, and the new measures in this strategy and approach, I will make myself available for Muhyiddin\u2019s announcement if invited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US-based Institute for Health Metrics Evaluation (IHME) projects a continuous rise in Covid-19 cases until mid-March 2021, hitting over 5,000 infections daily at the end of February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the IHME model is proved right, then Malaysia will join the top 30 countries in the world with the most rapid surge in Covid-19 infections, as there are less than 25 countries in the world which register a daily increase of 5,000 Covid-19 infections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n

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For illustrative purposes.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n

On Dec. 17, Malaysia overtook China with more cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, exchanging places with China in the ranking of countries with most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases \u2013 Malaysia No. 79 and China No. 80.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, on Dec. 21, we surged forward in Covid-19 infections and is now ranked No. 76 in the world, having overtaken three more countries, i.e. Bahrain, Kenya and Libya after registering 2,018 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the nation\u2019s cumulative total to 95,327 cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n

Malaysia is set to overtake more countries, in a trajectory to join the world\u2019s top 30 countries with the most number of Covid-19 cases \u2013 a sure and serious sign of the Malaysia\u2019s fast decline to a failed state. <\/h4>\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n

Malaysians are increasingly concerned about the government\u2019s response to the  Covid-19 pandemic, not just the procurement, prices and safety of Covid-19 vaccine but why the government is shying away from an \u201call-of-government\u201d and \u201cwhole-of-society\u201d strategy and approach to bring the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia under control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lim Kit Siang,
MP for Iskandar Puteri.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media Statement by MP for Iskandar Puteri, Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on 22 December 2020: What a contrast in news reports \u2013 Singapore  received its first batch of Pfizer\u2019s Covid-19 vaccine while Malaysian Prime Minister only signing agreement with AstraZeneca for an additional 6.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine   What a contrast in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":18241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,260,274],"tags":[367,120,1262,25,369,536,1157,1261,910,471,155,1074],"class_list":["post-18236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cover-story","category-current","category-national","tag-covid-19","tag-dap","tag-khairy-jamaluddin","tag-lim-kit-siang","tag-malaysia","tag-muhyiddin-yassin","tag-pfizer","tag-pfizer-biontech","tag-pm","tag-pn","tag-singapore","tag-vaccine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18236"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18256,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18236\/revisions\/18256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}