KOTA KINABALU – Sabah will be top priority for shipment of the single dose CanSino vaccine when the country receives its supply of three million doses next month.
Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin gave this assurance to Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Md Noor during a virtual meeting today.
“We will reserve the first shipment for Sabah, and similarly we will notify and give the state the option of (choosing the) Johnson & Johnson (single dose vaccine),” he said.
Khairy, who is also the coordinating minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme said this in response to Hajiji’s call for more vaccines to be sent to the state in an effort to boost vaccinations to 60% by October and achieve herd immunity by year-end.
“It is also crucial that we reach communities in the interior areas and far-flung islands whose mobility are hampered by rough terrain and distance,” he said.
During the virtual meeting, Hajiji told Khairy that the state has opened up 177 vaccine administration centres to date, and that they are on track to get more people vaccinated with mobile outreach facilities and the army’s medic vaccination programme.
Thanking the federal government for all cooperation extended to Sabah in the vaccination programme, Hajiji welcomed Khairy’s gesture, made despite vaccine supply constraints.
Meanwhile, Sabah Health Director Dr Rose Nani Mudin said that Sabah’s first integrated vaccine administration centre will kick off next week at the Sabah International Convention Centre.
The integrated centre will roll out free vaccines and allow private hospitals to assist in speeding up the vaccination process.
This will take a load off currently overwhelmed public hospitals, she added.
As of July 22, the cumulative vaccination rate for Sabah stood at 559,451 people who had received the first dose (14.3% of the population), and 374,937 (9.6%) people who had completed two doses.
Cumulative registrations in Sabah currently stand at 1,023,406, comprising 941,581 registrations via the MySejahtera app, 81,558 via website registration, and 264 via walk-ins through vaccination lines.
Also present in the virtual meet were state housing and local government minister and Sabah Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun,state Community Development and People’s Well-being Minister Shahelmey Yahya, and State Secretary Datuk Seri Safar Untong.
Along with Khairy, the federal government was represented by Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on Public Health Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood and Deputy Army Chief Datuk Mohammad Ab Rahman. – The Vibes, July 23, 2021
