By Karen Bong
SIBU, April 20: There were very few people who turned up for their Covid-19 vaccination appointments at the 11am, 12 noon and 1pm slots on the first day of the second phase of vaccination rollout in Sibu for senior citizens, the disabled and people in the high-risk groups.
Revealing this, Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) chairman Clarence Ting emphasised that registration for Covid-19 vaccinations in Sibu is still “not good”.
“It could mean people are not coming for their vaccinations or that many senior citizens above 75 years of age are still not registered.
“So I want to urge the Residents’ Offices to help boost the registration (especially among the elderly who are not tech-savvy),” he said during a Facebook live session today.
Ting revealed that only 942 individuals have received their first vaccine dose on the first day of Phase Two of te National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme at the Sibu Indoor Stadium yesterday (April 19).
Noting that vaccination for day two scheduled today had been postponed due to lack of vaccine supplies and certain logistics issues, he however gave assurance that the next shipment will arrive soon.
“My 87-year-old mother went for vaccination yesterday and she has absolutely no issue today as compared to me who experienced fatigue for two to three days (after being vaccinated).
“I will continue to advocate for vaccination and report with transparency so that everybody will know this,” he added.
Apart from that, Ting reiterated calls for Sibu residents to strictly adhere to all standard operating procedures (SOPs) in order to improve the Covid-19 situation in the district.
“We may now have to think that Covid will be part of us longer than expected. So what are we going to do about it? Last year, we were thinking Covid would only last for six months but now 13 months have passed.
“I understand that everyone and businesses are suffering but if we don’t continue to adhere to SOPs as a long-term measure to curb the pandemic and if Covid-19 continues, will we be able to go back with our lives and will businesses be able to continue?” he asserted, urging Sibu residents to ponder hard over the matter.
The government and authorities, he continued, do not take pleasures in seeing places being placed under lockdown and introducing stricter restrictions.
“We need to work together. Government can only enforce regulations and restrictions and if we still do not comply with SOPs, we can still be doing this by the end of the year.
“Study the SOP again. You know what they are. Follow them strictly because that is the only way for us (to curb the spread),” he added. — DayakDaily
