Uproar in Penang!

Calling all Penangites, and all fair-minded, sensible Malaysians to stand up and voice out!

The news is out- Penang was offered 2 million doses of Sinovac vaccine, free- from a private company, for the people of Penang. The State had written to the Health Ministry for approval in February 2021 but an official letter from Health Ministry dated 12th March 2021 denied permission to accept and instructed it to wait for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme to be rolled out!

At a time when Malaysia and the whole world are frantically scrambling for life-saving and economy-reviving vaccines, when Covid-19 is raging across our nation - it is unfathomable, outrageous, and criminal - in the words of ex Chief Minister of Penang, Lim Guan Eng - to be denied access to this precious, sought-after, in short supply lifeline offered free so early on, even before the national vaccination programme saw the light of day. With the population of Penang standing at 1.78 million (as at end of year 2020) and a targeted 1.34 million of the population to be vaccinated, this means the 2 million doses of Sinovac vaccines when taken up, would have conferred Penang herd immunity. Imagine the significance of this - many lives saved, industries on the verge of collapsing salvaged, normalcy of life returning for 1.78 million people.

Our Coordinating Minister for the immunisation programme Khairy Jamaluddin who co-chairs The Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV) with Malaysia's Health Minister - have erred gravely, at the cost of lost lives, lost livelihoods and other reverberations. The national vaccination programme is still stuttering, struggling to achieve the targeted number of vaccinations, encumbered by inadequate manpower, served by a single national phone line frequently impossible to be connected. Pivotal to efforts of containing the unrelenting Pandemic with record number of cases to date and still climbing, free vaccine access must not be denied. States with the means to supply and coordinate vaccination of their population, in cooperation with the private sector, can only consolidate, not sabotage the centralised, national vaccination programme. When Penang has sufficient vaccines for its population, with excess spillovers, there will be more vaccines made available to the rest of Malaysians, in addition to lightening of the Government financial load and freeing of the Health Ministry to cope better with the steep rise of Covid-19 cases threatening to overwhelm our healthcare system.

Khairy Jamaluddin and the Health Minnistry - don't deprive the people of Penang the 2 million doses of free Sinovac vaccine. Don't stand in the way of Penang achieving herd immunity! Even one more Covid-19 death,  one more livelihood lost - is too many and unforgiveable. The figures of casualties of both life and economy go up with each day of delay! Please help support our Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yew to demand for immediate approval for access to the free 2 million doses of Sinovac vaccine for Penang!