Kota Kinabalu member of parliament Chan Foong Hin distributed over 300 lunch boxes in Lintas, Bornion Centre, Damai, Pacificity Shopping Mall, Api-Api Centre, Star City, and other places, mainly to food delivery workers and taxi drivers on Sunday.
KOTA KINABALU: The temporary closing of several vaccination centres due to frequent disruption in supply Covid-19 vaccines supply will make it hard to achieve herd immunity in Sabah by the end of the year.
Democratic Action Party (DAP) Member of Parliament for Kota Kinabalu, Chan Foong Hin, said the Perikatan Nasional (PN) Federal Government should ensure adequate and sufficient supply of vaccine to Sabah.
He said several vaccination centres throughout Sabah had to be temporarily shut down and appointments fixed postponed to a later date.
At least two vaccination centres or Pusat Pemberian Vaksin (PPV) in Tawau district had to be closed due to shortage of vaccine, he disclosed in a statement on Sunday.
The Dewan IPG Balung PPV will be closed from June 28 till July 4, and the Tawau Community Hall PPV on July 2.
In Kota Kinabalu district, the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) PPV had to be shut down for several days from June 28 and will only reopen on July 5. The latest affected PPV is Dewan Sri Putatan in Putatan.
Chief Minister Datuk Hajiji Noor had been reported earlier this month that he estimated 30,000 jabs daily in July, and that herd immunity could be achieved by the end of the year in Sabah by inoculating up to 80% of the population in Sabah.
“How to achieve that number of 30,000 jabs daily when even the UMS PPV with a capacity to administer up to 1000 jabs a day, has to stop operation for an entire week only after two weeks in operation?” asked Chan.
He said rescheduling an appointment fixed on MySejahtera will certainly not go down well with the people, especially after they have waited for so long and have made plans for the day such as taking leave from work, arranging for transportation and accompaniment for those who are disabled or are elderly.
“The Chief Minister ought to rethink his decision for Sabah to not purchase any vaccine supply and rely entirely on the Federal Government.
“It is unwise for Hajiji to put all eggs in one basket and rely entirely on the Federal Government. Whilst the Federal Government may promise a certain number of vaccines to be delivered at a certain period of time, but there may be delay in the supply chain and logistical issues and the vaccines promised may not arrive on time, not due to anyone’s fault. This is already happening and affecting the people in Sabah from Kota Kinabalu all the way to Tawau,” he said.
Chan urged Hajiji to start sourcing spare supplies of vaccine from a different source to prevent any delay in his plan to achieve herd immunity in Sabah by the end of the year.
“Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin had pointed fingers at larger and more developed countries in Europe for allegedly hoarding vaccines to the detriment of developing countries.
“Sabahans, similarly, may come to the same conclusion that Peninsular Malaysia has been hoarding vaccines to the detriment of Sabahans by pointing at data showing that only 9.1% of Sabahans have been given their first dose of vaccine as compared to an average of 15.1% nationwide. It is such an irresistible conclusion.
“To be fair to minister Khairy, I intend to believe that no favouritism is happening, but it is important for the Federal Government to ensure timely and adequate supply to Sabah so as to rebut any allegations of favouritism between Peninsular Malaysia and the territories in Borneo,” he said.
He added the only way out of the vicious cycle of lockdowns and the only way to win over Covid-19 is by way of vaccination of the masses.
“Whilst achieving herd immunity and eradicating Covid-19 is hard, but we nevertheless should continue to work towards that aim. To ensure a consistent reliable adequate supply of vaccine is what Sabahans deserve in this critical point of time.”