Qhazanah Sabah chairman Salleh Said Keruak said the company was chosen by the state government to be the assisting body to ensure sufficient and fast deployment of vaccines in Sabah.

“It is because of our duty to serve the government that the Qhazanah Group, through our wholly-owned subsidiary WH Medicare, has committed itself to procure the Sinovac CoronaVac vaccine from Pharmaniaga LifeScience Sdn Bhd,” Salleh said in a statement here today.

The supply and distribution agreement between WH Medicare and Pharmaniaga LifeScience was inked between both parties at the state administrative centre yesterday.

It was witnessed by Salleh and Sabah local government and housing minister Masidi Manjun, who is also the state’s official Covid-19 spokesman.

The agreement guarantees the purchase of 250,000 doses that can be used to vaccinate 125,000 people.

Salleh said Qhazanah Sabah chose Pharmaniaga LifeScience as a partner to supply the vaccine due to its reliability.

“The product is filled and finished in the factory in Malaysia, where logistics and distribution will be less of an issue.

“What matters is that the vaccine is available when and as we need it,” he said.

Masidi said the purchase would help address the challenges faced in the vaccine rollout in Sabah, namely the capacity to vaccinate and sufficient supply of the vaccine.

He also urged big companies to get their workers vaccinated, adding that companies would be allowed to operate at full capacity if all their eligible employees and family members were vaccinated.

Masidi also acknowledged the pressing need to reopen economic activities and all measures were being taken to facilitate this.

“Through Qhazanah, Sabah now has access to vaccine supply. The state Cabinet will discuss and refine the rollout of this supply,” he said.