Villagers from around Bengkoka Pitas waiting for their turn to receive the vaccine outside Kampung Bongkol multipurpose hall on Thursday. – Bernama photo
PITAS: It was a 6.30 am start for farmer Rais Jipun, 39, to take his 70-year-old mother Remditiun Mangandon to attend the mobile vaccination programme at the Kampung Bongkol multipurpose hall, here.
The distance between his village, Kampung Mangkapon Darat, and the multipurpose hall is about eight kilometres and the journey takes about 30 minutes by way of a gravel road.
Rais had only one purpose in mind and that is to ensure his beloved mother received her Covid-19 vaccine injection.
“I took my mother to receive the vaccine because she is still able and healthy to work even though she is elderly. My mother is also a farmer and meets a lot of people in the course of work to sell her produce.
“So, it is best if she gets vaccinated to protect her from Covid. At first, my mother was disinterested and refused to accept the vaccine for fear of needles but she agreed once I explained to her the importance of being vaccinated,” he told Bernama.
Rais and his mother were among about 300 villagers around the Mukim Mapan-Mapan who attended the programme even though some of them had to travel a long way to get there.
Meanwhile, Nursyuhadah Mangukip, 26, from Kampung Bongkol also took her mother Rinumbizal Masadoi, 63, to receive the vaccine jab because she too was concerned about her mother’s well-being.
Nursyuhadah, the ninth child of 10 siblings, said they did not force her mother to take the vaccine but after learning about the vaccination programme in the village, Rinumbizal herself decided to take the vaccination.
Housewife Maynie Mositun, 34, from Kampung Pungiton Polid, meanwhile, said she was more convinced about the benefits of vaccination after the counselling session by an on-duty medical officer.
“This counselling session was very good and informative,” she said.
The Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force brought 250 vaccine doses to Mukim Mapan-Mapan for the mobile vaccination programme, however, following the overwhelming response from the villagers, the elderly and those who travelled far distances were given priority to the injections.
Apart from Mukim Mapan-Mapan, the mobile vaccination programme was also held in another district in the Bengkoka state constituency (DUN), namely Mukim Pantai, and two other districts in the Pitas DUN, namely Mukim Pinggan-Pinggan and Mukim Telaga.
Pitas is a district located in northern Sabah, about 170 kilometres from Kota Kinabalu, with a population of about 42,000 people who on average depend on agriculture and fisheries sectors as their main sources of livelihood. – Bernama