SIBU, Sept 11: Individuals with underlying medical problems are at risk of deteriorating into Covid-19 Category 3 to 5, says Sibu Divisional Disaster Management Committee coordinator, Dr Annuar Rapaee.
According to Dr. Annuar, they included those with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, coronary artery disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, asthma, cancer, kidney disease, smoker, obesity of body mass index above 30 and people aged 60 and above.
“Many of these risk factors of severe Covid-19 infections can be controlled except age. So this is the time now for us to relook at our health and take good care of it.
“Vaccination is important as it helps prevent Category 3 to 5 cases but we need to consider also the risk factors,” he said via Facebook live today.
He also advised the public to constantly check on their blood pressure and to the smokers, reduce the habit.
“Before there was this vaccination programme, we feared that cases would spike so we enforced lockdown on Pasai and Sibujaya as no one was protected then.
“But now most people had received second dose of the vaccine, cases still go up due to the Delta variant. However vaccination prevents serious cases,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dr Annuar, who is Nangka assemblyman, said students aged 16 and 17-year old in Sibu were fully receptive of Covid-19 vaccine as shown in the two-day vaccination program on Sept 8 and 9.
He pointed out that the number of students rejecting the vaccine was far less than the number of those vaccinated.
“Those who refused vaccines on the first day were only 3.3 per cent (57 individuals) as compared to the 83 per cent (1,427 individuals) who had received the vaccine.
“As for the second day of the program, the number of those who refused was 0.1 per cent (15) while those vaccinated was 95 per cent (1,563), and those who refused the vaccine had their own reasons,” he said.
A total of 3,367 secondary school students aged 16 to 17-years-old from 14 national and private schools in Sibu District participated in the vaccination programme from Sept 8 to 9.
The Vaccination Centers (PPV) include Sibu Civic Centre, Sibu Jaya Multipurpose Hall and Sibu Divisional Health Office Mobile PPV service. – DayakDaily.
