By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Mar 17: The fourth batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine containing 4,680 doses has arrived here on a Raya Airways this evening.
Minister for Local Government and Housing Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian in a Facebook posting said the state government is working closely with Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin who is also the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) coordinating minister and Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba to increase the allocation of Covid-19 vaccines to Sarawak.
He explained that the additional Covid-19 vaccine is to cater for the coronavirus outbreak in red zones instead of just for frontliners which were scheduled under phase one of the Sarawak vaccination programme.
The Covid-19 vaccination programme in Sarawak is divided into three phases, to be carried out from the end of February until August 2021.
Phase one of the immunisation programme, from the end of February to March will involve 97,161 frontliners.
Phase two of the immunisation programme, from April to May 2021 will involve 956,435 elderly and high-risk groups of citizens with and without comorbidities.
Phase three of the vaccination programme, from May to August 2021 will be for 999,834 individuals 18 years old and above.
To recap, Sarawak received the first batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine on Feb 24 containing 23,400 doses.
Subsequently, on March 3, the state received the second batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine containing 31,590 doses and the third batch, which contained 4,680 doses was delivered on March 10. —DayakDaily
