‘Vaccine passport mechanism subject to prevailing Covid-19 situation’

KOTA SAMARAHAN (July 6): Sarawak is hopeful for the ‘vaccine passport’ mechanism to be sorted out soon to encourage interstate and foreign travels, said Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.

He, however, stressed that Sarawak’s entry points would remain closed to visitors even if the state had achieved its target of having 80 per cent of its population vaccinated against Covid-19 in August.

He said this was because the vaccination rate in other states in Malaysia had remained comparatively low, and also the emergence and threat of new variants such as the highly-transmissible Delta.

“As the minister in charge of tourism in Sarawak, I would like to see our entry points open, but if we look at the current situation with the many new variants such as the Delta, and with many (people) yet to be vaccinated, this would not happen soon.

“For the vaccine passport to be issued or for our entry points to be opened, we cannot just look from Sarawak’s perspective; we have to look from Malaysia’s perspective,” he told reporters here yesterday, after being asked if Sarawak was looking forward to issuing vaccine passports to individuals who had completed their two-dose Covid-19 vaccination.

On June 20, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah regarded the ‘vaccine passport’ proposal as one of the measures being considered for interstate and international travel.

A day later, National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin had said that Singapore might become the first foreign country to recognise the MySejahtera application as Malaysia’s ‘vaccination passport’ and thus, might allow fully-vaccinated Malaysians to enter the island nation.

Khairy had also said that the MySejahtera app might also be accepted for international travels in the future – subject to approvals from other governments.

Meanwhile, Abdul Karim said he had not seen anything concrete about the implementation of vaccine passport for Malaysia, but he believed that there would be arrangements for it.

“Immigration matters are under federal (jurisdiction); negotiations over what can and cannot be done are between one country and another.

“We are just a state. If it’s internal travelling between Sarawak and ‘Semenanjung’ (peninsula), we may have such power. But this (vaccine passport) is between Malaysia and other countries,” he said.

Separately, Abdul Karim was optimistic about Sarawak achieving 80-per cent herd community by next month.

“It looks like we can achieve this target. Yesterday (Sunday), more than one million people have received their first dose.

“In another two to three weeks, many would receive their second dose and complete their vaccination. We still have one more month to go,” he said.

Earlier, Abdul Karim officiated at the handing-over of a ‘Community Pantry’ at a shopping mall here.

The community programme, meant to provide basic essential items to the needy folk, is run by Kota Samarahan Municipal Council (MPKS), in collaboration with the proprietors of supermarkets in the area.

According to Abdul Karim, 10 supermarkets operating here are taking part in this ‘Community Pantry’ programme as their way of giving back to society.

“I am glad to see those in private sector contributing towards this programme.

“This shows that many of us are concerned over what’s happening in our society.

“This is what we want to see – those who are capable to give back to society, help reduce the burden of those whose livelihood has been affected by the MCO (Movement Control Order).

“Our hope is that the Covid-19 pandemic would end soon,” he said.

In his speech, Abdul Karim lauded the efforts by the private sector in complementing the government’s ‘Food Basket’ assistance programme.

The ‘Community Pantry’ programme, which commenced last Sunday, would continue to run until this July 12.