Shahelmey Yahya
KOTA KINABALU: There are several factors why the vaccination rate in Sabah is low, said Community Development and People’s Wellbeing Minister Shahelmey Yahya.
According to the State Immunization Program director, at the beginning of Phase 2 of the vaccination program, the number of people aged 60 and above registered with MySejahtera was low.
The other factor had to do with the limited supply of vaccines available in Sabah before the middle of July, he said during the question and answer session of the State Assembly sitting yesterday.
“The State Government is intensifying the vaccination rate among residents in Sabah and is expected to achieve herd immunity by the end of October 2021,” said Shahelmey, adding that among steps taken by the government is to increase the number of vaccination centres, obtain sufficient supply of vaccines, increase the number of awareness campaigns on the importance of vaccination and also allowing walk-ins at vaccination centres for all residents, including foreigners.
He said that there are 224 vaccination centres of various categories throughout the state with a capacity of inoculating 83,140 people a day.
“Other than the vaccination centres, the Covid-19 Immunization Task Force (CITF) has also conducted outreach programs in villages, islands and refugee settlements. These outreach programs were done in collaboration with the Information Department, state Health Department, District Offices, Community Development Leader Units and the state National Security Council.
“There is the Community Vaccine Mobilization program which involved the National Unity and Integration Department as well as the District Offices and the ‘Jiwa Murni’ program which involved the armed forces and the District Offices,” he said, adding that so far 733 outreach vaccination programs have been implemented in Sabah.
Shahelmey said that through these programs, a total of 358,284 people have been vaccinated.
As of Sept 21, a total of 1,614,771 individuals or 59.4 per cent of the adult population in Sabah are fully vaccinated while 1,959,277 people or 72.1 per cent of the state’s adult population have received at least one dose of vaccine, he said.
He also disclosed that under the National Covid-19 Immunization Program (PICK), Sabah received its supply of vaccines from the federal government and as of Sept 20, 5,042,310 doses have been sent here.
“An additional 2.89 million doses will be delivered to Sabah this month and the supply will be sufficient to meet the vaccination requirement of those yet to be inoculated in the state,” he pointed out.
According to Shahelmey, Sabah received 3,388,320 doses of Pfizer vaccine, 1,284,000 doses of Sinovac, 189,990 doses of AstraZeneca and 180,000 doses of the single-dose CanSino.
“The State Government is currently through the Covid-19 Immunization Task Force (CITF), intensifying the vaccination process in the state so that herd immunity can be achieved as soon as possible,” he said.