KUCHING – The federal government has approved the Sarawak government’s request to purchase its own Covid-19 vaccines, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
Uggah, who is also state Disaster Management Committee chairman, said the approval was given during a meeting with National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin in Putrajaya, recently.
He said the state Covid-19 Advisory Group is now tasked with negotiating the purchase with vaccine suppliers.
“...we are now discussing the matter with the relevant authorities to sort out how we want to purchase it. It will be used as reserve in case there is any problem with the supply from the federal government,” he said.
He said this after observing the implementation of the second phase of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for the Kuching division at Stadium Perpaduan Petra Jaya here today.
A total of 1,278 individuals from high-risk groups and senior citizens aged 60 and above are scheduled to receive the vaccine at the stadium today.
On March 18, Uggah was reported as saying that the Sarawak government had sent a letter to the federal government regarding its intention to purchase Covid-19 vaccines for the state.
Meanwhile, Uggah said he hoped that the federal government could accept the registration for the immunisation programme that is done manually by residents in the state’s rural areas.
He said many rural folk do not have smartphones to register for the jab via the MySejahtera app, hence the manual registration at district or resident offices.
“We have also asked those in rural areas to register using the district or resident office’s phone. When they receive the appointment notification, the office will contact the recipient,” he said.
A total of 929,435 individuals are being targeted to receive the vaccine under the second phase of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme in Sarawak, which began on Monday. – Bernama, April 23, 2021
