KUALA LUMPUR • The Malaysian minister in charge of Covid-19 inoculations Khairy Jamaluddin said he will refrain from being inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and will get a jab instead from one of the other vaccine providers to combat "selective vaccine hesitancy".

Mr Khairy, the Coordinating Minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, said he will be the first person to take the next vaccine that the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) approves.

"I have been observing the views of the people. The Prime Minister, the health director-general and now many ministers and front-liners have taken the Pfizer vaccine.

"So people have more confidence in the Pfizer vaccine because the Prime Minister had taken the vaccine without having any side effects," said Mr Khairy, who is also the Science, Technology and Innovation Minister.

"The people are asking why are they all taking Pfizer, the good stuff, while the others are meant for the ordinary people. So I have decided that I will take whatever vaccine that crosses the line, be it Sinovac, AstraZeneca or Sputnik V," he told a news conference yesterday, as reported by Malaysiakini news site.

"I will take that as a demonstration of vaccine confidence and also my confidence in NPRA," he said.

Mr Khairy said there are Malaysians who wish to be inoculated with their choice of vaccine, but he said this was not possible due to logistics, The Star daily reported.

"We are seeing some doubts. There are those who really want the Pfizer vaccine or Sinovac... At the moment, the government's position is that (people need to) take whatever it is that has been approved. They (vaccines) are safe and efficacious," he said.

Malaysia began its inoculation drive last Wednesday, with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin the first to be vaccinated, followed by front-liner Clement Marai Francis, a driver for the Putrajaya district health office.

The third person who got the Pfizer vaccine was the Health Ministry's director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Malaysia will vaccinate elected representatives, healthcare workers and other front-liners in a first phase that is expected to last until next month.

The second phase will involve at-risk groups, such as individuals with certain existing illnesses, and those above the age of 65.

The country aims to begin administering vaccines to the general populace, aged 18 and above, from May. Foreigners based in Malaysia, including undocumented migrants, will also be vaccinated for free at a later stage.

The NPRA, the Malaysian agency that approves vaccine usage, last month okayed the registration of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

It has also received applications for the use of the Sinovac, AstraZeneca and Sputnik V vaccines in Malaysia.

The first batch of the Sinovac vaccine arrived in Malaysia yesterday. It is expected to be processed into more than 300,000 doses.