TANJONG KARANG: With over 300,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine yet to be dispensed, Selangor has the lowest vaccination administration rate in the country, says Khairy Jamaluddin.

       The coordinating minister of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, in urging Selangor to buck up on its vaccination rate, said it was currently the only state with an administration rate of below 80%.

       Khairy said this amid claims by Selangor public health committee chairman Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud that the state had a lack of vaccine supplies.

       “As on June 27, Selangor has received 1,367,306 doses of Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines.

       “There is a remainder of 322,606 doses that have not been used.

       “This means that Selangor has achieved 76% usage of the vaccines supplied.

       “That is why I have requested the state to speed up the vaccination process,” he told reporters after opening a vaccination centre at Dewan Tan Sri Noh Omar here yesterday.

       “Melaka has the highest rate of vaccination at 94%, followed by Terengganu and Negri Sembilan at 92%.

       “Other states have achieved over 80%, except for Selangor,” he added.

       Khairy also denied Dr Siti Mariah’s claims that the alleged lack of vaccine supply would hamper the vaccination programme in Selangor.

       He said a meeting was held with Selangor Mentri Besar Amirudin Shari two weeks ago, during which the state had stated that it only had the capacity to handle 40,000 vaccinations a day.

       “I am not sure if she was present during the meeting.

       “The supply of vaccines is based on this capacity.

       “I don’t know where the state exco (member) got her figure of 80,000 vaccinations from,” he added.

       Dr Siti Mariah claimed last Sunday that some vaccination centres in Selangor would be forced to stop operations unless their stock of vaccine was replenished.

       Khairy, who is also Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, said Selangor was capable of handling 16,000 vaccinations a day as at June 1 but had increased this to about 44,000 as at June 25.

       “We are planning to increase the capacity to 130,000 a day in July, which the Mentri Besar has agreed to,” he said, adding this was due to the increase in vaccination facilities, including mega centres, in the state.