By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Feb 24: The Covid-19 vaccine has been described by a medical expert as safe and is claimed to be worthy of a Nobel Prize.
Borneo Medical Centre (BMC) board of management chairman Dr John Chew asserted that the Covid-19 vaccine has good efficacy and safety records with over 213 million people being vaccinated worldwide.
“It decreases (Covid-19) transmission and severity.
“Now, two months of vaccination in the West (countries), we have got proven track records,” he said today during a webinar organised by Sarawak Business Federation (SBF) entitled Covid-19 vaccination and the impact on Sarawak business.
Although there were uncertainties and the degree of protection of the Covid-19 vaccine over the long-term, he pointed out that it is important for everyone to be vaccinated in order to reduce the number of infection.
In the meantime, Dr John Chew urges the public not to miss an opportunity to be vaccinated.
On the question of an elderly person who has high blood pressure whether is suitable to be jabbed, Dr Chew outlined that the high-risk group should be vaccinated as soon as possible.
Dr Chew noted there were plenty of challenges for Sarawak in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.
He added the situation was further complicated by the entry of undocumented Indonesians into the state who were then tested positive for Covid-19.
He believed there will still be many challenges for the authorities to deal with even during the vaccination period.
Those include vaccine security and piracy as there were a lot of smuggling activities that involved vaccine.
Meanwhile, Minister for Local Government and Housing Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian added the Covid-19 situation is evolving and there is no guarantee that a person’s immunity will be fully protected after being inoculated with the Covid-19 vaccine.
Hence, he pointed out that the state’s policy to fight Covid-19 will also change from time to time guided by the advice from medical experts.
On another note, Dr Sim revealed that on average, the state government spent RM1 million for every 5,000 testings of the Covid-19 swab test.
On the question of getting more supplies of Covid-19 vaccine for Sarawak, Dr Sim explained that the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) is the sole agency that grants the approval and the import of a particular vaccine.
Currently, he said only the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine has been approved for use by NPRA in Malaysia.
Dr Sim said the state government is working closely with the federal government and the Health Ministry to obtain additional supplies of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Adding on, Dr Sim who is also the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) advisor said the state government has drafted an alternative plan to procure more supplies of Covid-19 vaccine.
“In Sarawak, we have formed a committee called the Sarawak Covid-19 Vaccine Advisory Group.
“The group is headed by Datu Dr Andrew (Kiyu) and our members including past medical experts and they will help us to evaluate the availability of the Covid-19 vaccines.
“Because a lot of new (Covid-19) vaccines are coming on board.
“We are very enthusiastic about the single-dose vaccine and those that do not require low temperature for storage,” he added.
Among those who joined the webinar include SBF deputy president Datuk Philip Ting, Sarawak Bumiputera Entrepreneur Chambers (DUBS) chairman Datu Abang Helmi Ikhwan, Sarawak Economic Planning Unit director Dr Muhammad Abdullah Zaidel and Sarawak Tourism Federation (STF) president Audry Wan Ullok. —DayakDaily
