Lina Soo
KUCHING (June 2): Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) supports the call for the Covid-19 vaccination drive throughout the state to be accelerated.
Its president Lina Soo in making this statement yesterday also extended her condolences to Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing for the loss of his brother and sister-in-law to Covid-19.
“Prioritising vaccination in the fight against Covid-19 is of utmost urgency as it has been proven in many countries to have slowed down the spread of the pandemic and reduced the death toll,”
Soo said the federal government had approved Sarawak to procure its own vaccine supply and she questioned the State Disaster Management Committee for seemingly ‘dragging its feet in securing enough supply.
“Since the vaccines from the federal government will only come in drips and drabs, Sarawak must be proactive to secure the vaccine for our rural population and to speed up the vaccine rollout to achieve maximum vaccination in minimum time.”
She noted the state government had placed the blame on the people who had not register for vaccination through MySejahtera, although the apps had not been functioning efficiently.
Furthermore, she pointed out most of the rural folks, especially the elderly, have no smartphones and access to the internet.
“To increase the rate of vaccination, walk-in vaccination pods or centres can be set up in shopping malls and community centres where the people can just register on the spot and get the jab, instead of only relying upon MySejahtera app.”
Soo also said the state government’s plan in setting up a mega event for mass vaccination would only result in crowds being exposed to shared facilities, which could become super spreader platforms.
“As done in other countries, mobile vaccination vehicles also go to neighbourhoods where the residents can just roll out to get inoculated.”
For rural communities, Soo said the vaccination teams can go to the people in the villages or longhouses to vaccinate them instead of relying on just the MySejahtera app to manage the vaccination process.
“It would be foolhardy of the Sarawak government to simply follow the dictates of the federal government in the vaccination registration process and risk the lives of its population due to bureaucracy and delay.”
Soo said the state has a small population and there is no reason for further delay in the vaccination drive, despite the logistic challenge.
“Vaccinating only two million people is not a mammoth task as long as the government has the political will.”