PETALING JAYA: A Covid-19 vaccination 'countdown' will be launched to rally the nation towards achieving the 80% vaccination target under the National Immunisation Programme (NIP), says Khairy Jamaluddin.

       "We will be launching it in July or August to start the countdown towards the 80% target to get people to rally behind the vaccination programme," he said during an engagement session at the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (NCCIM) 45th annual general meeting conducted virtually on Thursday (June 24).

       Khairy said that the countdown was crucial in keeping the vaccination momentum from waning.

       "We have noticed that in other countries, vaccinations had reached a plateau when their people stopped being vaccinated," he said.

       He noted that the countdown would also help foster unity among Malaysians by working to tackle the pandemic together.

       He expressed confidence in reaching the target by the end of the third quarter, following delivery of vaccine by suppliers.

       He noted that so far, 14.7 million people have registered for the vaccination, whereby some 15% had received their first dose with 5.5% having already taken two doses.

       "We expect to see 10% getting their full two doses by mid of July, which is in line with the threshold of moving from Phase 1 to Phase 2 under the national Covid-19 recovery plan," he said.

       Although being able to reach the 10% vaccination target, Khairy said the moving to Phase 2 would also be dependent on whether Covid-19 daily cases are below 4,000 cases for seven consecutive days.

       Meanwhile, Khairy said that he spoke to Pfizer on Wednesday (June 23) for the delivery of some 25 million doses of vaccine between July and September.

       He also said that a government linked company began talks with Chinese companies to provide vaccine supplies to those who are willing to pay to get vaccinated sooner.