KINABATANGAN – Rural villages and isolated oil palm estates are among the reasons Kinabatangan is the district with the lowest Covid-19 vaccination rate in Sabah.
As of Wednesday, only 38% of Kinabatangan’s adult population have received their first dose of the vaccine, while 24.5% of them have completed vaccination out of the district’s 148,600 adult population, including migrant workers.
This means that there are still about 98,000 individuals aged 18 and above in the district yet to be inoculated.
Kinabatangan health officer Dr Maini Sabait recently told the press that the health office is in urgent need for oil palm plantation owners in the district to cooperate with the health personnel.
“We understand that they may be located in isolated places, making it difficult for them to come to the vaccination centre (PPV) here.
“That is why we are ready to go to them. We will bring the vaccine supply to them to speed up the vaccination rate in the district. All we need is their cooperation and basic data of their workers, and we are good to go,” she said.
Maini said that out of about 300 oil palm plantations, there are still 200 plantations that have yet to respond to the health office’s request.
As for the local villagers, Maini said that their main problem is logistics.
“Those who live in interior areas have no access to public transportation and will have to fork out their own funds to get to the PPV.
“As such, villagers can also send us their data, and health personnel will come to them.
“Don’t hesitate to contact us,” she said.
Maini also assured that those who are not Malaysian will also be vaccinated.
According to their data, migrants are more reluctant to receive the vaccine compared to the locals, as more than 80% non-Malaysians in the district have yet to be inoculated.
Last Wednesday, Community Development and People’s Well-being Minister Shahelmey Yahya, when visiting the PPV in Dewan Mat Salleh, announced that the district has received 17,000 doses of CanSino vaccine, with 5,000 doses having been administered so far.
He said the CanSino vaccine, which is a single-dose vaccine, was brought to Kinabatangan to focus on the interior village population.
“We expect that 10,000 more doses will be administered in the district this week,” Shahelmey said at a press conference during his visit.
Shahelmey who is also Sabah health exco said, upon discussion, he has decided to increase Kinabatangan’s vaccination rate by increasing outreach programmes and will not rely on its static PPV.
He said extra efforts must be taken in Kinabatangan to ensure that Sabah will be able to reach herd immunity by next month.
Yesterday, the state Health Department disclosed the vaccination rate for the first dose, with Beaufort and Putatan recording 100.25% and 100.06% respectively including non-citizens.
As of Wednesday, 48.63% or 1.35 million adults in Sabah have completed their vaccination. – The Vibes, September 10, 2021.
