Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah (centre) visits the vaccine administration centre at the Fire and Rescue Department Academy in Bau July 4, 2021. — Picture courtesy of the Chief Minister’s Office
BAU, July 4 — Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah today said the Sarawak government is leaving it to the National Security Council (NSC) whether to allow the state to proceed to Phase Two of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) based on the predetermined benchmarks.
However, he said the state government will request the NSC to assess Sarawak based on the Covid-19 situation in each district rather than the state as a whole.
“Sarawak is a very big state and as big as peninsular Malaysia,” he told reporters after visiting the vaccine administration centre at the state Fire and Rescue Department Academy here.
Uggah, who is also the state Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman, stressed the state has achieved a good record in its vaccination operation.
He said the state hopes to ramp up its vaccination to 70,000 doses per day in the coming weeks from the present over 50,000 doses per day.
“As of yesterday, we have successfully vaccinated a cumulative total of 1.456,831 million, consisting of 1.178,303 million for their first dose and 278,528 for their second dose,” he added.
Uggah said the state was looking forward to the arrival of the single-dose CanSino vaccine expected in the middle or end of this month.
“So we are looking at the supplies as promised by the federal government to beef up our vaccination programme particularly in the deep interiors,” he said.
Uggah said the state government is confident of meeting the target of vaccinating 2.2 million eligible Sarawakians or 80 per cent of the state’s population by the end of next month.
He said the state government has set up many vaccination centres at community centres, government hospitals and clinics, private hospitals and clinics and industrial parks.
He added mobile vaccination teams have also been launched to reach out to remote interior areas.