By Jaythaleela K
MIRI, June 6: Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) secretary-general Datuk Sebastian Ting Chiew Yew has stressed on the need to ramp up Covid-19 vaccination for Miri Division to achieve herd immunity.
He opined that as the current vaccination rate in Miri is low (less than 2,000 persons per day), there is a need to speed up the mass Covid-19 vaccination rollout.
Hence, he proposed some key strategies to vaccinate at least 75 per cent of Miri’s population to reach herd immunity.
“We must inoculate as many as possible population in Miri,” Ting pointed out today.
Among his recommendations is to set up more vaccination centres (PPVs) at selected schools to help speed up the process.
Amongst the suggested schools are Pei Min School, SRJK Chung Hua, SMK Luak and SMK Taman Tunku.
“These schools would be (used) in collaboration with private medical centres, for instance, Columbia Asia Hospital with Pei Min as they are basically near each other, Borneo Medical Centre (BMC) and other clinics.
“This will overcome the limited spaces at the respective clinics for the mandatory 30-minute observation for adverse effects. This will free the respective clinics for their daily routine medical care services,” he explained.
He said that these PPVs would be set up together with the Health Ministry, with clinics matched with respective schools, manpower sourced and volunteers recruited to complement call centres, and coordinated with logistics groups and data entry groups.
Ting explained, this is intended to increase the rate of vaccination to at least 8,000 persons per day for now and then further increased to 10,000 persons when the promised vaccines arrive in Miri this month (June) and July, reaching about 150,000 in about 23 days for the first dose and a further 21 days for the second dose.
Ting also proposed for the activation of mobile vaccination units to help inoculate residents in this division.
“These mobile Covid-19 vaccination units will target large corporations, factories and plantations, at the same time, we would also target clan associations and such organisations or institutions for vaccination drives,” he said.
It is proposed that the ramp up be carried out by a committee headed by the Miri City Council Mayor, to help the already overstretched Miri Disaster Management Committee (MDDMC), he said.
He reminded Mirians, regardless of their political backgrounds, to set aside their differences and stay united in the fight against Covid-19.
Ting added that the pandemic has demanded mobilisation on a larger scale with cooperation from all — the local authority, healthcare workers, government and rakyat. — DayakDaily
