KUCHING, June 7: As many as 14,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses are expected to arrive in Kapit on June 10 with the vaccination rollout in rural Kapit scheduled to start on June 14.
Baleh assemblyman Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing revealed there are in total about 90,000 residents to be vaccinated in Kapit Division and so far, 7.8 per cent of those registered via MySejahtera have already been vaccinated.
“(The Kapit) Resident and his staff did manual registration. This is a more accurate list. The number of 18+ year-olds to be vaccinated is about 90,000.
“I was told, on June 14, 2021, Kapit Division will go rural with the arrival of 14,000 Sinovac vaccines on June 10, 2021. I hope another 48,000 vaccines (sic) will arrive as promised by Kuala Lumpur.
“To complete the vaccination exercise in Kapit Division, we need 84,000 of 2 doses of Sinovac, and 50,000 of single dose CanSino. This would be completed by August 2, if the number of vaccines as promised come to Kapit.
“YBs in Kapit have promised to get all Kapit people vaccinated. Kuala Lumpur and Kuching must, however, keep their promises to give us the required number of vaccines,” said Masing who is also the Deputy Chief Minister in a statement today.
Masing said presently, in Kapit Division, there is more demand than supply for Covid-19 vaccines.
On the issue of the Ministry of Education not approving the use of primary schools as vaccination centres, Masing took the opportunity to explain that it was a misunderstanding derived from miscommunication.
“Ministry of Education has on May 7, 2021 approved the use of primary schools as vaccination centres but the Kapit division wasn’t told. So the Resident Office arranged for longhouses to be used as PPV (vaccination centres).
“When permission was given to use primary schools as PPV, the Divisional Office now changed PPV to primary schools. It was a waste of time when PPV was changed from longhouses to schools due to miscommunication,” said Masing who just arrived in Kapit from Bakun.
Despite the hiccup, Masing said he was pleased to note that there is a good working relationship between the Resident Office and the Health Ministry concerning vaccination rollout in Kapit Division.
“I have talked to the Resident and the Divisional Office of Bukit Mabong on this matter. So far Kapit has vaccinated 7.8 per cent of those who had been registered via MySejahtera.
“The MySejahtera list is only applicable in urban areas, but not in rural areas where Internet is almost non-existent,” said Masing, adding that the Resident Office thus has to resort to using manual registration. — DayakDaily
