PUTRAJAYA, Feb 24 (Bernama) — Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin took his first vaccine jab today to kick-start a nationwide exercise which aims to provide COVID-19 immunization for free to the people in Malaysia, locals and foreigners alike.

The prime minister received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine shot at the District Health Center in Precinct 11 here, which is among the Vaccine Dispensing Centers (PPV) identified for the National COVID-19 Immunization Program.

Muhyiddin arrived at the clinic at about 2.25 pm and had to go through five stations at the PPV to complete the vaccination process.

He was administered the vaccine by Lina Ibrahim, a matron at the Putrajaya District Health Center.

The first station is for temperature check and screening of symptoms; the second for registration to confirm presence for vaccination; the third for consultation and consent; the fourth for getting the COVID-19 jab and the fifth for observation.

The prime minister then launched the registration for the immunization program via the MySejahtera vaccination app which was introduced to make it easier for people to sign up for inoculation.

The national immunization program, themed Protect Oneself, Protect Everyone, will be implemented in three phases, with the first phase from February to April 2021 for 500,000 frontliners.

Phase two from April to August is for senior citizens aged 65 and above, high-risk groups and people with disabilities involving 9.4 million people, while phase three is from May 2021 to February 2022, for those aged 18 and above, covering more than 13.7 million people.

The government is targeting to get at least 80 per cent of the people vaccinated to achieve herd immunity to curb and end the pandemic.

It hopes to complete the vaccination exercise by February 2022 but may achieve the target earlier if the supply of vaccines can be delivered ahead of schedule.

Since the first COVID-19 infection was reported in Malaysia on Jan 25 last year, the virus has infected 288,229 people and claimed 1,076 lives as of yesterday.

Malaysia received its first batch of 312,390 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech on Sunday and was scheduled to get its second batch of 182,520 doses of the same vaccine today.

Also present at the PPV were Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba and Coordinating Minister for the National COVID-19 Immunization Program Khairy Jamaluddin.