Malaysian PM instructs officials to buy COVID-19 vaccines for up to 70 pc of population

Kuala Lumpur [Malaysia], December 14 (ANI/Sputnik): Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Sunday that he instructed officials from the country's health and science ministries to secure deals with COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers for enough doses to inoculate up to 70 per cent of the population.
"I have instructed MoH [Ministry of Health] and Mosti [Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation] to negotiate for more vaccines, enough for 60 to 70 per cent of the population as recommended by MoH," the Prime Minister said, as quoted by Malaysia's New Straits Times newspaper.
According to Yassin, deals are currently in place for enough doses to vaccinate 30 percent of Malaysia's population, the newspaper said.
Malaysia has already secured a deal with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to purchase 12.8 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, which has been produced in conjunction with German firm BioNTech. Further doses are expected through the COVAX Facility, which is co-led by the World Health Organisation.
On Sunday, public health officials in Malaysia registered 1,229 new positive tests for the coronavirus disease, taking the country's case total up to 83,475. (ANI/Sputnik)