By Christopher Lidom
KUCHING, March 18: Sarawak government has submitted an official letter to Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin on its intention to purchase Covid-19 vaccine, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah.
“I have sent a letter today to Khairi Jamaluddin to tell him of Sarawak’s intention to buy the vaccines, if the vaccines supplied by the federal government could not meet our vaccination schedule,” he said during a press conference on the State’s Covid-19 development update held at the old State Legislative Assembly (DUN) building in Petra Jaya today.
According to Uggah, Sarawak targets to vaccine all eligible and willing Sarawakians by the end of August, but this would depend on the supply of the vaccines.
“According to newspaper reports, Khairy said the state government can buy their own vaccine, so we are sending the letter to him,” he added.
On March 1, Uggah, who is also the chairman of the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) announced that Sarawak is looking into the possibility of acquiring its own Covid-19 vaccines to expedite the state’s inoculation program.
According to Uggah, the Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian has been liaising with the federal government.
He said SDMC is working together with the State Vaccination Advisory Group, led by Professor Datu Dr. Andrew Kiyu of Unimas, to look for possible channels to acquire the vaccines and they had been in talks with an expert group in Kuala Lumpur on details and information of the vaccines.
Based on the the Special Committee for Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) report, which is co-chaired by the Ministry of Health of Malaysia and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, as of yesterday (March 17), a total of 32,665 people in Sarawak had their first vaccine dose administered. – DayakDaily.
