KOTA KINABALU – Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today paid a visit to the Covid-19 vaccination centre at the Sabah Administrative Complex’s multipurpose hall here.
State health director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi said the prime minister took note of the progress of the national immunisation programme in Sabah.
“The PM’s group visited the centre and saw for themselves the progress of the vaccination drive here.
“We also took the opportunity to brief him on the details of the state’s vaccination programme.
“I think he got some good feedback, too, on how we do things here.
“I am not sure if it was up to his expectations, but we have always tried our level best, based on the resources we have.
“But on the whole, I feel he was quite happy with what we have achieved so far.”
She said it is the final day of vaccination for frontliners in Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Penyu districts, completing the list of 42,117 recipients on the first list.
“We will use the remaining vaccines for the second dose, and also for recipients on the second list.”
She said Sabah has received four vaccine shipments, totalling 53,000 doses, and is awaiting another 50,000 doses.
“We have distributed these vaccines to the districts, and today, 16 days after starting the programme, we have completed (administering) the first dose to frontliners.
“We will enter the second phase in April and vaccinate 268,000 people, including those in the high-risk category and the elderly.
“We will provide more facilities like this in districts and villages, to handle any surges in our vaccination efforts.
“We will probably have mobile teams in this phase.”
The state enters the third phase in May, with plans to increase the number of vaccination centres.
There are nine centres statewide under Phase 1. Starting Phase 2, the jab will be given at hospitals and clinics.
On vaccination registration numbers, Dr Rundi said registrations via MySejahtera in Sabah are among the lowest in the country.
“As of March 17, the number of online registrations in Sabah stood at 262,000, or only 9% of the state’s population.
“But bear in mind we also have manual registration, so we need to take this into account when looking at the number of people registered.
“We are doing our best to get people to register according to phases.”
On how soon the state can achieve a rate of 70% population vaccinated, she said it depends on the number of vaccines sent.
“Our vaccination numbers depend on how many vaccines arrive in Sabah.
“We can actually do it very quickly if we have the vaccines. We are able to administer up to 1,000 jabs a day.” – The Vibes, March 22, 2021
