Malaysia has kickstarted the country's largest inoculation programme against Covid-19 with the administration of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin received the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Putrajaya District Health Office in Precinct 11. It was televised live on RTM this afternoon to help reassure Malaysians of the vaccine's safety.

Malaysia’s economic recovery plan is on the right track with the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme that begins today, said Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz. He said many economic sectors were awaiting border reopening not only in the country but also abroad, including the tourism and retail sectors.

The supply of vaccines would be distributed to each Vaccine Administration Centre (VAC) in stages according to the number of vaccine recipients and based on the suitability of time. Ministry of Health’s Pharmacy Practice and Development Division director A’tia Hashim said the procedure was to ensure and maintain the quality of Comirnaty vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech which is temperature sensitive and has a certain shelf life.

Katherine Tai, President Joe Biden’s pick to revamp U.S. trade policy to focus on workers and “ordinary Americans” over corporations, will get a chance to explain what that will mean in practice at her confirmation hearing on Thursday. Tai’s testimony before the Senate Finance Committee has been anxiously awaited for months by industry, U.S. trading partners from Beijing to Brussels, labor groups and lawmakers - all in a long queue to lobby Tai as soon as she is confirmed.

Microsoft was the top cloud vendor globally last year with a cloud revenue for the year amounting to US$59.5 billion. According to research data analysed and published by online trading portal Comprar Acciones yesterday, in the first quarter of 2020 (1Q2020), the tech giant generated US$13.3 billion, rising to US$14.3 billion in 2Q2020, US$15.2 billion in 3Q2020 and US$16.7 billion in 4Q2020.

HSBC Holdings Plc’s head of wealth and personal banking in the US and Canada Pablo Sanchez is leaving the lender, to be succeeded by Tara Latini, according to a person familiar with the matter. Sanchez is departing to pursue other opportunities, the person said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter. Latini, who joined HSBC in 2004, will relocate to New York and take over as head of WPB on April 1, after holding the same position in Malaysia, the person said.

Join the region’s largest AmCham event of 2021 from 9-11 March for a rare opportunity to engage with industry leaders and government representatives from the U.S. and across the Asia Pacific region.

All morning plenary sessions will be taking place virtually, with afternoon in-person industry breakout discussions for each of the 14 AmCham Committees to be held at Marina Bay Sands Singapore.

Purchase your virtual pass now. Tickets for the afternoon in-person events are pending government approval, and we will notify you once registration for the in-person tickets is live.

The race to find COVID-19 vaccines is still far from over, yet there is cautious optimism that we will gradually return to normality during 2021. It is however already evident that companies with robust governance and a responsible approach to business have continued to thrive. The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic continues to surprise.