PM confident 80 percent of population will be fully vaccinated by October

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9  — Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is confident that the target of fully vaccinating all adults or 80 percent of the country’s population against COVID-19 by the end of October can be achieved.

He said this was based on the encouraging progress made in the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK).

“I was briefed by the Committee on Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) this morning. Alhamdulillah, the vaccination process is going according to schedule so far,” he said in a post on his Facebook today.

Since the launching of PICK on Feb 24, a total of 15,772,101 people have received their first dose of the vaccine, while 8,770,336 have completed both doses as of yesterday.

Muhyiddin said that by Aug 31, more than 60 percent of adults in the country or over 40 percent of the population will be fully vaccinated.

“This is definitely good news for all of us in celebrating National Day this year,” he added.

He said the latest data available in the country and overseas showed that cases in categories four and five and deaths would decrease sharply when the vaccination rate increased.

COVID-19 is a five-category disease, with categories four and five the most severe.

“InsyaAllah, we pray that our country will be able to emerge from this pandemic soon,” he said.

— BERNAMA