The National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (Malay: Program Imunisasi COVID-19 Kebangsaan), abbreviated as NIP or PICK, is a national vaccination campaign that is currently being implemented by the Malaysian government as an approach in curbing the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and to end the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia by successfully achieving the highest immunisation rate among its citizens and non-citizens that are residing in Malaysia.[1] It is the largest immunisation programme implemented in the history of the country, and it is being administered by the Special Committee for Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) since early 2021.
Despite running smoothly for the most part, the programme was plagued with numerous controversies and issues from a slow vaccine rollout rate due to lack of vaccine supplies despite the Malaysian government has purchased more than enough for the population, a poor priority of who will receive the vaccine first, logistical issues with the MySejahtera's digital vaccination appointment and certificate system, false news about vaccines, outbreaks and overcrowding of vaccination centres, to poor treatment from the volunteers and authorities on foreign workers.[2][3][4][5][6][7][excessive citations] Videos of recipients getting empty shots also surfaced, and the government claimed that the issue was due to human negligence stemming from the fatigue faced by the vaccinators involved.[8][9] Additionally, there were rumours of vaccine spots being sold by volunteers; however, these rumours are unverified.
The immunisation programme is currently being implemented in phases from 24 February 2021 to February 2022 starting with phase 1 of the programme, which consists of healthcare workers and frontliners. Then Prime MinisterMuhyiddin Yassin became the first individual in Malaysia to receive the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine when it was broadcast live nationwide.[12] Based on reports from the third week of September 2021, Malaysia averaged about 244,588 doses administered each day and with that rate, it will take a further 27 days to administer enough doses for another 10% of the population in the country.[13]
Vaccines administered per pharmaceutical company as of 16 June 2021
Pfizer–BioNTech: 22.4 million (65.0%)
CoronaVac: 6.2 million (19.4%)
Oxford–AstraZeneca: 3.2 million (10.6%)
Not Identified: (5.0%)
Total number of people who have received COVID-19 vaccinations in Malaysia as of 16 December 2021
Population who have received only one dose of a two-dose vaccine: 411,463 (1.3%)
Population who are fully vaccinated with two vaccine doses: 25,529,153 (78.2%)
Unvaccinated population: 7,317,045 (20.5%)
Malaysia's MySejahtera app is ranked first in the world for install penetration rate and open rate among the Top COVID-19 Apps by Downloads Worldwide in 2021, according to the State of Mobile 2022 report.[14]
^Program Imunisasi COVID-19 Kebangsaan(PDF) (in Malay). Malaysia: Urusetia Jawatankuasa Khas Jaminan Akses Bekalan Vaksin COVID-19. 18 February 2021. p. 26. Archived from the original(PDF) on 18 February 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2021.