KUCHING – With Sarawak’s Covid-19 vaccination rate remaining very low a week into June, the state government must urgently ramp up the process to achieve its target of 80% of the population inoculated by end-August.
The table below shows the number of vaccine doses administered in the state from May 31 to June 8:
State DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen in a statement said an average of 10,736 doses are administered per day, with the highest number standing at 14,781 on June 7, which dipped to 12,317 the day after.
“This is despite the setting up of BCCK (Borneo Convention Centre Kuching) as an additional vaccination centre to administer the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
As early as April, state Local Government and Housing Minister Dr Sim Kui Hian boasted that the Sarawak government has the capacity to administer 50,000 doses per day, and blamed the slow vaccination rate on a lack of supply.
Chong said on May 15, state Assistant Local Government and Housing Minister Dr Annuar Rapaee announced that Sarawak would get 500,000 Sinovac doses within a week, but the supply did not come even when May ended.
“Instead, on May 28, 2021, (National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating minister) Khairy (Jamaluddin) came to Sarawak and announced that the state will get 380,000 doses per week from the federal government starting June, and that there is no need for the state government to purchase additional doses.
“And yet, now that the first week of June has passed, there is still no marked increase in Sarawak’s vaccination rate.
“The state government must be aware that each day’s delay in administering vaccines will cause the unnecessary loss of lives, prolong the agony of frontliners, and result in greater economic losses to the state and people.
“To the people, there is nothing more urgent than an effective and efficient vaccine roll-out.
“Yesterday, I received two complaints from members of the public that their vaccination appointments originally scheduled for June 8 at the Timberland Medical Centre were postponed with a last-minute notice on the MySejahtera app when they turned up at the hospital.
“They were not allowed to receive the vaccine.”
Notwithstanding Dr Sim’s claim that Sarawakians are reluctant to register for vaccination, said Chong, the reality is that hundreds of thousands who have registered – some as early as February – are still waiting for their appointments.
To speed up the vaccination process, the Stampin MP proposed the following:
- The government should expedite the involvement of private general practitioners in the vaccination drive, and allow the “vaccinate first, register and update later” process;
- Give GPs a few hundred vaccine doses at one time, and allow the public to drop by private clinics for vaccination without having to wait for the MySejahtera app to give an appointment date; and,
- Set up 100 mobile teams to go around housing estates statewide, and use community halls or schools as vaccination centres.
“The whole purpose of apps is to facilitate and make a task easier,” said Chong.
“It is only under the failed administration of this Perikatan Nasional government that the MySejahtera app becomes burdensome and slows down the process of vaccination.” – The Vibes, June 10, 2021
