KOTA KINABALU – Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin has called on the federal government to allow Pharmaniaga to sell Covid-19 vaccines to the state government as an effort to expedite its immunisation efforts.
He said the move would enable the private sector to purchase the vaccine and help the government to make the immunisation programme a success by dispensing the vaccine more comprehensively.
“Sabah has 3.89 million people but only more than 130,000 people have received the vaccine and many others are still exposed to Covid-19 infection.
“Therefore, I am calling the federal government to supply Sabah with vaccines through Pharmaniaga,” he said in a media conference here today.
The process of dispensing vaccines to the people should be made easier to ensure more people receive the vaccine in urban and rural areas, he said.
Earlier, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said vaccines produced by Pharmaniaga can be supplied concurrently to the private sector, government-linked companies and state governments for areas with high Covid-19 transmission rates during the third and fourth phases of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.
Speaking at a virtual press conference after visiting the PLS high-tech factory at Taman Perindustrian Puchong Utama today, he said this would also help the country achieve herd immunity against Covid-19 faster. – Bernama, June 1, 2021
