PETALING JAYA: Malaysia will continue to call for a fair, affordable, accessible and equitable Covid-19 vaccine rollout, says Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

       The Prime Minister also commended the United States' pledge at the recent Global Covid-19 Summit to donate additional 500 million doses of Pfizer vaccines to lower-income countries by 2022.

       “Vaccination has proven to be the most viable tool to achieve this end.

       “We hope this will greatly assist Asean member states in speeding up their national vaccination drives,” he said in his intervention at the virtual Asean-United States Summit on Tuesday (Oct 26).

       Ismail Sabri added that Asean and the United States should swiftly develop initiatives to support and strengthen the region’s digital infrastructure and transformation.

       “The adoption of the Asean-United States Leaders’ Statement on Digital Development and Asean Consolidated Strategy on the Fourth Industrial Revolution today is timely,” he said.

       The Prime Minister added there is a need to bridge the digital gap by ensuring a level playing field in pursuit of socio-economic recovery and prosperity.

       He said Malaysia is ready to support the effort through its MyDIGITAL programme and Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (2021-2030).

       Ismail Sabri also said that enhanced digital transformation should come along with strengthened cybersecurity.

       “Cybersecurity Malaysia, an agency under the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia, will be organising the Asean Digital Security Professional Development and Lifelong Learning Programme,” he said, adding that it aims to develop capacity building and knowledge transfer for digital security.