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THE HEALTH | AUGUST , 2021
| Cover Story |
Ramping up
the vaccination pace
Thanks to a determined effort , Malaysia ’ s daily vaccination rate is one of the highest in the world
BY KHIRTINI K KUMARAN
IN MAY this year , Malaysia was vaccinating around 80,000 people daily . In but just two months later , this number had risen massively to more than 400,000 doses daily .
“ In June alone , over five million vaccinations were administered . And it ’ s more than what we ’ ve done from early February to May . We want to achieve 10 million in July and slightly more in August ,” the CEO of ProtectHealth Corporation Sdn Bhd ( ProtectHealth ), Dato ’ Dr Anas Alam Faizli , told The Health .
At this rate , the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme ( NIP ) will achieve its target sooner than expected .
“ We are in a good place now . With the vaccine inoculation rate speeded up , we are looking at achieving 80 per cent herd immunity before end of this year or slightly earlier as compared to the initial plan of
February next year .”
ProtectHealth , which is tasked to implement private medical practitioner ' s participation in the NIP , was incorporated in 2016 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ProtectHealth Malaysia , established under the Ministry of Health ( MoH ). It is worth noting that there is no playbook on carrying out such a vaccination
DATO ’ DR ANAS Alam Faizli , 41 , took over as ProtectHealth CEO in October 2020 . He knew his job would not be easy given that Malaysia and the world were amid a pandemic with vaccinations in short supply .
But looking at the daily vaccination figures of more than 400,000 today , which half is contributed by the private medical practitioners ( PMPs ), Dr Anas and his team at ProtectHealth have risen to the task admirably .
There are more than 1,500 vaccination centres ( PPVs ) currently operating nationwide which involves the PMPs . Anas and his entire team have been busy working around the clock managing the centres , vaccine distribution and getting more PMPs to participate .
“ I think so far the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force ( CITF ) and Ministry of Health ( MoH ) are doing well despite the challenges . We mobilised our team to help in this programme . No one is excluded ,” said Anas .
Interestingly , Anas , who holds a doctorate in Business Administration , is a construction and an upstream oil programme nationwide , so they were treading on new ground .
Accelerating the vaccination rate
Based on Our World In Data by Oxford University , Malaysia has one of the top vaccination rate numbers in the world , exceeding countries such as the UK .
Malaysia ’ s vaccination rate began to
Rising to the task
and gas professional . He worked in companies like Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd , Talisman Malaysia and Edgenta PROPEL Berhad . Also involved in industry association , he was Assistant Honorary Secretary of the Malaysian Oil & Gas Services Council ( 2016-2018 ).
He also co-founded BLINDSPOT , a socio-economic think tank , a group of concerned citizens voicing out the voice of the voiceless . He was also formerly a Founding Chief Executive Officer on the Teach for The Needs ( TFTN ) board , which houses volunteers , university students , and adopts orphanages .
Anas is also the author of the bestselling book titled ‘ Rich Malaysia , Poor Malaysians ’. In 2013 , Astro Awani named him among the Top 10 social media influencers .
In this interview with The Health , he talks about the national vaccination programme and the main challenges .
What are the critical challenges in implementing the NIP ? We have PMPs spread all over the country . To support the vaccination