CM: 91 pct of adults in S’wak received first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, 88.2 pct for second dose

KUCHING (Aug 31): Sarawak’s Covid-19 vaccination programme has achieved 91 per cent, or 1,879, 360 individuals, for the first dose out of 2,066,000 eligible individuals aged 18 years and older, said Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.

In addition, 88.2 per cent or 1,821,499 eligible individuals aged 18 years old and above have been administered with their second dose of the vaccine.

“The state government is currently working to implement the vaccination programme for 289,200 individuals aged 12 to 17 years, which is 9.94 per cent of the population of Sarawak, under the supervision of the Ministry of Health and the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC).

“The government hopes that parents can give their full cooperation to the authorities to facilitate the implementation of this programme later,” he said at the state-level National Day celebration held at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) building tonight.

On a related note, Abang Johari expressed his hopes that the political changes at the federal level will lead to lasting stability so that efforts can be focused on combating the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

“Although the infection rate is high especially in the Southern Zone, there is some relief as recently 99 per cent of the cases are in the Category 1 and Category 2, which is no symptoms or mild symptoms only.

“Despite this, we urge the people to continue adhering to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) that have been set so that the number of daily infections can be reduced as soon as possible. I believe with the two doses of vaccine we have received and our adherence to the SOP, we will be much safer,” he said.

Meanwhile, Abang Johari thanked the top leadership of the federal government of the last 17 months for showing concern to the aspirations of Sarawakians.

“I sincerely hope that the new leadership that has just taken over the federal government will continue to respect the rights and privileges of this state and continue to be concerned about the wishes of the people of Sarawak so that any rights that have been eroded are returned to this state,” he said.

Abang Johari also hopes that the federal government through its Education and Higher Education Ministry continues to be receptive to the educational and training needs of the state as part of its overall development.

He said that even though education and training is a federal matter, Sarawak had taken it upon itself to develop its education and training infrastructure with Yayasan Sarawak playing a major role.

“Swinburne University of Technology, Curtin University, University College of Technology (UCTS), iCATS College University, and of course Unimas, Centexs and PPKS have all been set up to spearhead talent and skills development in the state.

“We are also building five international schools that will be based on the Cambridge syllabus in order to give more opportunities for our brightest students, particularly rural students, to attain international standard. We cannot just sit by and leave our education and training entirely to the federal government for the simple reason that one size does not fits all,” he said.

Also present at the celebration were Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud and wife Toh Puan Datuk Patinggi Raghad Kurdi Taib, deputy chief ministers, ministers, assistant ministers and others.