KOTA KINABALU – The Sabah government is mulling procuring its own Covid-19 vaccine, but is still holding out hope that Putrajaya will send a large shipment of shots to the state, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor.
Responding to the low vaccination and registration rates in the state, he blamed the late delivery on vaccine-producing nations, saying that the federal government is not at fault.
“We do have plans to buy our own vaccines… However, I was informed that Putrajaya will send in more supplies this week and in subsequent weeks.
“There are delays in the sending of the vaccines to Sabah, as the Health Ministry has had to reschedule the delivery time and again.
“This is not the fault of the federal government, but the producers who are delivering them (vaccines) late to Malaysia,” he told reporters at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah vaccination centre here today.
The Sulaman assemblyman said the state will be able to increase the number of daily administered doses only when a huge batch of vaccine arrives.
Previously, Hajiji had said the state aims to achieve 30,000 inoculations per day this month, with 60% of the 2.7 million eligible population to be immunised by October.
Sabah remains the lowest in terms of vaccination rate in Malaysia, with only 532,277 individuals, or 13.6% of the population, receiving their first dose, and 371,520, or 9.5% of the population, both doses.
Sabah leaders – both in the state government and opposition – have reiterated their calls for Putrajaya to step up the delivery of the vaccine due to the slow vaccination rate in the state.
Sabah Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun had told Bernama that Sabah received 747,980 vaccine doses, including the 152,100 doses that arrived yesterday.
Based on the delivery schedule, he said the state will receive an additional 30,000 doses tomorrow, and another 308,880 doses next Wednesday. – The Vibes, July 22, 2021
