I'll apologise if Khairy is right about vaccine 'scam', says Guan Eng - Free Malaysia Today

GEORGE TOWN: Lim Guan Eng today said he is willing to apologise for Penang’s claim that Putrajaya stood in the way of an offer of two million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to the state, if it is found to be a “scam”.

Yesterday, National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the pledge by a “donor” and Hong Kong-based company was most likely bogus, as a search of companies in the city revealed that it did not exist.

Chief minister Chow Kon Yeow and Lim had claimed that the health ministry blocked Penang from getting the vaccines from the donor.

“If what Khairy said is true, then I am willing to apologise so that we can focus on the important matter of securing vaccines for the rakyat,” Lim said in a statement today.

“Whether the company exists or not is a secondary issue, and should not distract from the two principal issues of the federal government granting immediate approval to all state governments to purchase vaccines or secure vaccine donations.

“It is not wrong to seek vaccines at the earliest possible time for the rakyat to protect themselves by every legal means possible.”

Lim said the health ministry gave a firm “no” to the vaccine “offer” a month after Chow wrote to the ministry in February.

“When the health ministry rejected the offer of the vaccines, nothing was mentioned about the company being a bogus firm,” he said.

According to Chow, health ministry secretary-general Mohd Shafiq Abdullah had written to him saying it was unnecessary to consider other vaccine contributors, as the federal government had planned and implemented the national immunisation programme.

Lim said vaccines ought to be decentralised to states to allow more people to get inoculated.

“The Penang government has declared its willingness to be the intermediary to provide free vaccines to frontliners and high-risk groups as well as to those able to afford the vaccines.

“Why should there be a monopoly of the vaccines by one company when decentralisation can increase the vaccination rate?

“It is more sensible to allow those who can afford to pay, to purchase vaccines at their own cost because this will make more vaccines available to be given free to others,” he said.