KUCHING, July 7: The Sarawak government has changed its goal of reaching herd immunity to vaccinating the State’s entire population of 2.2 million people including those aged below 18.
Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas disclosed the Sarawak government’s ambitious intention following a report that the PfizerNTech (Pfizer) vaccine can be administered to those below 18-years-old.
“The State was no longer talking about herd immunity. We just want to vaccinate all targeted 2.2 million people in the State who are eligible,” Uggah said in a statement today.
Uggah who is also the Deputy Chief Minister said since it had been reported that the Pfizer vaccine could be given to those aged below 18, Sarawak had over 200,000 people more to be vaccinated.
Meanwhile, he also disclosed that as of yesterday (July 6), 1,612,639 million people in the State have been vaccinated out of which 1,254,639 million (61.4 per cent) received their first dose while 357,574 (17.5 per cent), have gotten their second dose
The Bukit Saban assemblyman credited the fast rollout of vaccinations in Sarawak to its federal decisionmakers especially Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin for continuous support by supplying sufficient vaccine doses to Sarawak.
“We hope because we have conveyed our requirements and they have made the commitment to deliver, they will continue to honour their commitment.
“When we can have sufficient supplies, we can complete our vaccination programme as targeted by end of August,” he said.
To efficiently administer vaccines to residents scattered throughout the vast areas of the State, Uggah said various methods have been employed where mobile vaccination teams have been deployed to the deep interiors such as Bario, Baram, Kapit, Belaga and Miri.
“Our capacity is now close to 60,000 doses daily,” said Uggah who was at Rumah Enteri in Samu, Paku to visit its pilot ginger farming project using fertigation and also to visit a second longhouse to see its pilot modern pig-rearing project at Munggu Gernis in the same area today.
He was accompanied by Betong MP Datuk Robert Lawson Chuat and political secretary to the Chief Minister Dr Richard Rapu. — DayakDaily
