Guan Eng: I'll say sorry if Sinovac donor is bogus - The Star Online
GEORGE TOWN: Former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng (pic) is willing to apologise if the offer to donate two million doses of CoronaVac vaccine to the state government is proven to be bogus.
Lim, who is DAP secretary-general, said he is ready to apologise if what Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said is true.
On Tuesday (May 18), Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow and Lim both claimed at a press conference that the Federal Government was blocking Penang from procuring the vaccine, commonly referred to as Sinovac, made by China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd.
Chow claimed that the Health Ministry had declined to approve Penang’s request for a private company to sponsor two million vaccine doses from China.
Lim then entered the fray by urging Chow to just accept the vaccines on offer, even without the Federal Government’s approval, and deal with the consequences later.
However, on Wednesday (May 19), Khairy revealed that the alleged offer to donate two million doses of CoronaVac vaccine to the Penang state government is bogus, after investigations revealed that the donor company does not even exist.
“If what Khairy said is true, then I am ready to apologise so that we can pay attention to the (matter) of getting vaccines for the people through the overall efforts of the government and country.
“The existence of that company is a secondary issue.
“In any case, this should not distract from the two main issues of the Federal Government, which is to immediately authorise all state governments to approve the purchase of vaccines or accept vaccine donations.
“It is not wrong to get vaccines as soon as possible for the people in order to protect them in all legitimate ways available,” he said in a statement on Thursday (May 20).
Lim said with the increase in positive Covid-19 cases, the public urgently needs vaccines to protect them from contracting the virus and its variants.
“In view of the people’s desire for the vaccine, the Federal Government should immediately allow state governments to purchase the vaccine or accept vaccine donations.
“Some private sector companies are willing to raise funds to purchase vaccines from overseas but have been told that the procurement needs to obtain government approval and transactions through government intermediaries.
“The Penang government has announced that it is willing to be an intermediary to provide free vaccines to frontline personnel, high-risk groups and the public.
“If decentralisation can increase the vaccination rate, why should we allow a company to monopolise the vaccine market?
“Let those who can afford to buy vaccines themselves do it, so that more free vaccines can be provided to the people,” he said.
Lim added that in response to desperate appeals from Penangites, and after Sarawak and Selangor were allowed to obtain vaccines directly, the Penang government was open to buying vaccines or accepting donations from any interested parties.
“However, Chow has revealed that the state government’s request to accept vaccine donations was officially rejected by the Health Ministry on March 12.
“Chow also noted that previous state government requests to purchase vaccines were not entertained.
“Khairy did not explicitly state that the government would approve the state government’s request to accept vaccine donations or to procure or purchase such vaccines.
“Perhaps Khairy cannot provide an explanation on behalf of the Health Ministry for rejecting the vaccine donation offer.
“Instead, Khairy said the offer of two million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Chow was from a nonexistent company,” he said.
Chow has since refuted Khairy’s claim, saying that when the Health Ministry rejected an offer to donate the vaccine, there was no mention of the donor being a fake company.
Instead, Chow revealed that Health Ministry secretary-general Mohd Shafiq Abdullah replied on March 12 that there was no need to consider vaccine contributors, as the Federal Government had planned and implemented the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.
Chow also said the Penang government is in the midst of clarifying Khairy’s allegations.