Malaysia to begin COVID-19 vaccination campaign on February 26

The first batch of Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine will be delivered to Malaysia on February 21, allowing the nation to launch the mass vaccination campaign on February 26, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced on Tuesday.

"The rollout of the programme will begin on Feb 26," Muhuyiddin Yassin said while presenting the national COVID-19 immunization plan, as quoted by The Star newspaper.

The prime minister noted that he would be the first person to receive the vaccine in the country in order boost public confidence in the safety of the vaccine.

The Malaysian leader also announced the launch of the www.VaksinCovid.gov.my website, where every citizen can find the national vaccination plan and relevant instructions.

The slogan of the vaccination program is "protect yourself, protect all."

In late 2020, Malaysia inked a deal with Pfizer on procurement of 12.8 million doses of its vaccine and later agreed to purchase additional 12.2 million doses.

Kuala Lumpur also signed a deal with China's Sinovac to purchase its COVID-19 vaccine and to manufacture it domestically. The country plans to start administering Sinovac's vaccine shots in early March. In addition, Malaysia plans to use Russia's Sputnik V and the vaccine developed by UK drugmaker AstraZeneca.

As of now, Malaysia has reported over 266,000 COVID-19 cases, more than 218,000 recoveries, and 975 deaths. (/Sputnik)

( With inputs from ANI )