Singapore to contribute more than 100,000 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to Johor, says chief mini

Johor Chief Minister Hasni Mohammad speaking during a state legislative assembly sitting on Sep 6, 2021. (Photo: Johor chief minister office)

CNA

JOHOR BAHRU: The Singapore Government will contribute more than 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to Johor state, said Chief Minister Hasni Mohammad on Monday (Sep 6). 

Responding to questions on vaccine supply in the state legislative assembly, the chief minister said: “As a sign of close ties between the state of Johor and Singapore, the Government of Singapore has contributed 20,000 Sinovac vaccine doses on July 29, 2021.”

“In the short term, the Singapore Government will contribute 100,640 doses of Pfizer vaccine to the Johor state government,” he added.

He also said that the state government has accepted 300,000 doses of SinoPharm vaccine donated by the United Arab Emirates.

Mr Hasni also expressed thanks to Mr Hishammuddin Hussein, who is the former foreign minister, for his efforts in obtaining and facilitating the process to receive the vaccines. Mr Hishammuddin is now defence minister in the Cabinet led by Mr Ismail Sabri Yaakob. 

The chief minister also said in the state assembly that vaccines are a “key component” for Johor’s exit strategy from the pandemic. 

Therefore, the state government has set a target of ensuring that 100 per cent of its adult population would receive one dose of vaccine by Sep 16 and both doses by the third week of October. 

According to Malaysia's Special Committee on COVID-19 Vaccine Supply, 53.5 per cent of Johor’s adult population has been fully vaccinated as of Sunday, while 84.3 per cent of its adult population have received at least one dose. 

Mr Hasni added that between Mar 1 and Sep 5, Johor has received more than 4.7 million doses of vaccines from the national immunisation programme, of which around 2.4 million doses are Pfizer, around 1.8 million are Sinovac and around 410,000 doses are AstraZeneca. 

On Jul 6, it was reported that Johor ruler Ibrahim Iskandar had received 20,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine.

In a Facebook post at that time, he wrote: “We are working on getting more Sinovac and Pfizer-BioNTech doses in the near future. We hope the government and minister can help us and distribute more vaccine doses to the people. It's time for action. Serve the people.”

When interviewed by CNA on May 31, the chief minister said that the state government is keen to increase Johor's vaccine supply through various channels, including by procuring them from Singapore. 

Johor is among the states that have consistently reported a four-figure daily increase in COVID-19 cases. The number of cases in the last 14 days totalled about 28,000 in the southern state. 

Malaysia has recorded 1.84 million COVID-19 cases and more than 18,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.