VESTED INTERESTS & GREED TO MAKE MONEY RATHER THAN SAVE LIVES?

As of May 24, Malaysia is among the worst in Southeast Asia in terms of the total number of vaccine doses administered to its population. It had vaccinated only 2.63 million people with at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccines – behind Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and even Cambodia. It is only ahead of Laos, Brunei, Vietnam and Myanmar.

Even then, Laos has less than 100 Coronavirus cases daily, while 10.6% of the Brunei population had received at least one dose of vaccines (obviously better than Malaysia). In fact, Laos has reported zero community case today. Vietnam, meanwhile, had less than 50 daily cases for as long as one can remember, until early May when a new wave exploded due to variants from India and the UK.

It appears Malaysia is arguably slightly better than Myanmar among the ASEAN countries. But considering Myanmar has recorded only 144,000 cases, it has been better managed than Malaysia’s 566.000 infections. The Perikatan Nasional government has screwed up so spectacularly that one can write a book and make a blockbuster movie – and perhaps win some Oscars.

The biggest reason Malaysia under the backdoor government Muhyiddin is behind countries like Indonesia and Cambodia is due to corruption. From the beginning, the regime has been treating the vaccination program as one mega infrastructure project where they can milk for kickbacks. The longer they could drag or prolong the vaccination, the more money they could squeeze.

If the Muhyiddin administration was serious and sincere about protecting the lives of the people in the first place, it would not have vaccinated less than 10% of 33 million of the population since the vaccination started in February until today. How could Malaysia administer only 2.63 million doses as compared to Indonesia’s 24.83 million (May 24)?

From face masks to vaccines, everything must be “parked” under Pharmaniaga, who is not only the sole concessionaire holder, but also acts as a middleman of drugs and medical supply to public hospitals in the country. There’s nothing wrong with such arrangement had the company, one of government-linked companies (GLCs), being efficient in the distribution of such critical medical commodities.

But it screams monopoly, inefficiency, mismanagement, and even corruption when Vaccine Minister Khairy Jamaluddin himself has been complaining and bitching about supply shortages of Covid vaccines. It’s not rocket science to get vaccine shipments from foreign manufacturers and thereafter stored, transported, and handled at pre-determined refrigerated conditions.

So, why must Pharmaniaga make life difficult when it insisted on rebottling, repackaging and redistributing vaccines like Chinese-made Sinovac? In January, Mr Khairy said the government was paying less for the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac as the bottling process will be carried out in Malaysia. Hilariously, he refused to reveal how much the government could save in the process.

If Pharmaniaga indeed has the expertise to rebottle and repackage Sinovac vaccine without contaminating or corrupting it, why did the genius Khairy announce days ago (May 27) that the country is expecting the arrival of 12 million doses of the same vaccine from China? On 28 Feb, the country received 200 litres of CoronaVac vaccine, which can be processed into 300,000 doses.

As of today, Pharmaniaga, the country’s biggest pharmaceutical company, has in its possession 1,800 litres of China’s Sinovac vaccine, which can produce up to 2.6 million doses. So, what happens to the almost 3 million doses of Chinese vaccine? Interestingly, Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said on May 11 that Pharmaniaga delivered its first batch of Sinovac – a total of 290,480 vials.

Between Feb and May, how many people had lost their lives because the incompetent Pharmaniaga struggled to rebottle 290,480 doses of Sinovac vaccines? If the company could only deliver a pathetic 290,480 doses in more than 2 months (presumably from the initial 200 litres procured), it would probably take ages to process the remaining litres of Sinovac (assuming it still exists in good condition).

In reality, the cost is definitely higher because it’s impossible for Pharmaniaga to beat China – the world’s largest factory – in terms of speed and cost. But the Malaysian pharmaceutical had to do it because that’s the only way it could profit more. The government prefers to make more money instead of taking the easy route – import and directly distribute it nationwide.