Dare Khairy say that Malaysia has got Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine only 10 times higher than Belgium or better still, that Malaysia has got them cheaper than Belgium?

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said it was incorrect for me to claim that Belgium is paying 20 times less for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine compared to Malaysia.

Dare Khairy say that Malaysia has got Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine only 10 times higher than Belgium, or better still, that Malaysia has got Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine cheaper than Belgium?

What is what?

Surely, Malaysians are entitled to information for such a comparison, which is not caught by the confidentiality clause which governments had to enter with drugmakers to purchase the Covid-19 vaccine?

My calculation that Malaysia is paying for Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine higher by over 20 times is based on a Nov. 7, 2020 news report quoting the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as saying that the government “has started rolling out a RM3 billion plan to enough Covid-10 vaccines to immunise 6.4 million of the population, as soon as the vaccine has been proven safe to used as early as January 2021”.

Now, Khairy says that the RM3 billion was “our overall estimate to get coverage for at least 70 per cent” of the population. Who is incorrect – Muhyiddin or Khairy?

Malaysians have just been informed that the first batch of Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer would arrive in February next year and not “as early as January 2021”.

Could this deadline for the arrival of the first batch of Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer be stretched to March next year?

This is why Malaysians want the government to be truthful transparent and accountable for its responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, not only with regard to Covid-19 vaccines, its variety, prices and safety; but also why the Muhyiddin government has failed to draw up a “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic, and to demand explanation for the many failings of the government responses in the Covid-19 pandemic.

If there is an “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic, then we would not have tragic and disgraceful incidents like the Covid-19 infections in public hospitals, like Serdang and Klang hospitals, affecting hospital staff and front-liners.

The new daily increase of Covid-19 cases is the grim figure of 2,018 cases. At this rate of daily increase of Covid-19 cases, Malaysia will cross the 100,000 mark by Christmas on Friday, and set Malaysia on the trajectory to be among the top 30 countries with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases.

We were successful in dealing with the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia, caused by the Sheraton Move conspiracy to overthrow a legitimately elected government.

The backdoor and illegitimate Perikatan Nasional government sought to grab power in Sabah, caused the Sabah general election and ignited the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused a runaway surge of Covid-19 infections and deaths in Malaysia since then.

Why is the government still shying away from an “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach to bring the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia under control?