By Ling Hui
KUCHING, Jan 23: The first batch of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccines en route to Malaysia will, at the beginning of March, first go to some 90,000 frontliners and 1 million Sarawakians who are at high risks of infection.
“The vaccines will reach Malaysia by end of February and in March, the vaccination will begin on about 90,000 frontliners first,” said State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) advisor Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian.
Following this, he said high-risk groups at areas with outbreak would be given second priority and this would include the elderly, those with diabetes, high blood pressure and other pre-existing medical conditions.
All the high-risk individuals would sum up to about 1 million, while another million are considered as the low-risk group.
Dr Sim, who is also Minister of Local Government and Housing, added that the last group of people to get the vaccination would be low-risk Sarawakians who are not eligible to free vaccines by the federal government.
“For Sarawakians who fit the criteria by the federal government for free vaccines, we’ll let the federal government pay for them.
“For those who are not eligible, the Sarawak government will bear all the costs for the remaining ones,” he said during the Facebook live session with Kuching South City Council (MBKS) mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng today.
On the overall estimated timeline of vaccination, Dr Sim said the reports from Sarawak State Health Department showed that the entire process would take at least six to nine months.
Due to the large land size in Sarawak and widespread population, he noted that distribution in terms of logistics would for sure take some time to cover both urban and rural people.—DayakDaily
Caption: Dr Sim (right) attending Wee’s (left) weekly Facebook live session.
