By Ling Hui and Karen Bong
KUCHING, April 23: The Sarawak government will work out a more aggressive approach to get more Sarawakians to register for Covid-19 vaccination as only 266,197 or 28.64 per cent of the total targeted 958,951 individuals registered in Phase Two.
State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said intensifying the vaccination campaigns would be one of the ways to ensure those eligible in Sarawak are all registered to receive their vaccine doses.
“We must make sure the vaccination programme runs smoothly in order to meet our target of vaccinating about 2.2 million Sarawakians and non-Sarawakians by August.
“It is a heavy task but we have to make sure it is done smoothly and thoroughly,” he said during a press conference after visiting the vaccination centre at Stadium Perpaduan, Petra Jaya here today.
On the supply issue of vaccines in Sarawak, he said discussion with relevant authorities and bodies are now underway to sort out Sarawak’s own procurement of vaccines as a reserve in the event of insufficient supplies from Kuala Lumpur.
Though confident that the federal government already has its vaccine supply secured and scheduled throughout the entire Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme (Pick), he said Sarawak wants to ensure enough storage for its own use.
As for the vaccination in rural areas, Uggah who is also Deputy Chief Minister, said the Sarawak government is hoping to acquire CanSino after it is approved by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) as it is a single-dose vaccine that is more convenient for rural people.
While assuring the people that Sarawak government has its own planning to seek more vaccines for Sarawakians, he urged members of the public to do their part in registering themselves.
“We urge people to come forward through the district offices or health offices and we will discuss how to reach out to the groups that may have problems with registration and also groups that may not have made decisions to be vaccinated.
“The Sarawak government is doing all we can to make sure the programme is implemented as seamless as possible,” he said. — DayakDaily
