By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, May 25: Putrajaya will allocate more Pfizer and Sinovac vaccine doses to Sibu and other high-risk divisions in Sarawak via the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (Pick).
Pick Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said this in response to DayakDaily’s query as to why the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine opt-in programme is offered to only people in Kuching and Miri but not Sibu, which ranks in the top range of highest number of new cases recorded almost daily in Sarawak.
“For the other divisions, we will be allocating more of the Pfizer and Sinovac vaccines. AZ is an opt-in programme so we decided to focus on the two biggest cities in Sarawak – Kuching and Miri.
“But for divisions like Sibu, which is experiencing quite a high number of Covid-19 cases, we will be sending additional above and beyond the normal allocation of Sinovac and Pfizer vaccines,” he said during a virtual press conference held via Zoom today.
He also mentioned that the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) has allocated 152,800 AZ vaccine doses for Sarawak for the voluntary vaccination programme.
To date, a total of 10,850,160 individuals or 45 per cent of the national population aged 18 and above, have registered for Covid-19 vaccination.
Meanwhile, those who have been vaccinated so far number 2,483,496. Of these, 905,207 individuals have received their second vaccine shot.
Khairy also disclosed that for the second phase of Pick which is ongoing, 372,895 individuals have been vaccinated as of yesterday (May 24). — DayakDaily
