KUCHING, April 15: Sarawak has requested the federal government to supply the single-dose CanSino Covid-19 vaccines to expedite the vaccination process among Sarawakians, reveals SDMC chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
According to Uggah, the CanSino vaccine would help to facilitate the State’s vaccination process for people living in the interior areas, as it only required a single dose.
“So we have requested for at least 600,000 to 800,000 doses of CanSino vaccines to be supplied to Sarawak so that we do not have to go to an area repeatedly, but only one time.
“We are taking all the necessary steps, including our preparations, to purchase the vaccine so that our target to vaccinate Sarawakians by the end of August can be achieved,” said Uggah during the daily press conference to give updates on the Covid-19 situation in Sarawak here today.
At the same time, the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman noted, theNational Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Co-ordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, has given assurance that the federal government will provide the vaccines required by Sarawak.
He said Khairy also agreed that Sarawakians living in the rural areas do not have to wait their turn in Phases 2 and 3 of the Covid-19 vaccination programme.
“We will give the vaccines to all at once, because if we select those who are qualified based on Phases 2 and 3, it would complicate the process, especially in the rural areas,” he said.
“At the same time, we are also waiting for final approval for the Sarawak government to purchase whatever is necessary to supplement what is being supplied by Kuala Lumpur,” he added.
Meanwhile, Uggah disclosed the second phase of the State’s vaccination programme will start on April 19, 2021.
“Our vaccination programme is now at the planning process, and it will begin on April 19, in Sibu, and followed by all the divisions throughout the State at designated vaccination centres and I hope that qualified and ready Sarawakians will be vaccinated by the end of August this year.” he said.
Uggah pointed out that there are two modes of registration available for the Covid-19 vaccination programme, which is through the MySejahtera application and via physical registration.
He explained that many residents in rural areas do not have access to the MySejahtera application.
“So our mode of registration has already been accepted by Kuala Lumpur. The key-in was done by our secretariat to the MySejahtera secretariat in Kuala Lumpur and it went very smoothly. As of yesterday we were told that Sarawak has the highest number in terms of percentage (66 per cent) that are eligible for registration,” he said. — DayakDaily
