Annuar (second left) speaking to Moh at the Sibu Indoor Stadium while Wong (left) and Mikar (right) look on.
SIBU (July 7): More Covid-19 vaccination outreach programmes will be initiated as Sibu is right on track to achieve herd immunity by August, said Assistant Local Government and Housing Minister Dr Annuar Rapaee said.
He said yesterday alone, Sibu managed to inoculate about 8,000 people and this was an encouraging sign.
“With more outreach programme being carried out, we believe we are on the right track at the moment to achieve herd immunity by August,” he told reporters after officiating the state elite athletes and coaches vaccination programme held at Sibu Indoor Stadium this afternoon.
Accompanying him were Sibu Division Resident cum Sibu Division Disaster Management Committee (SSDMC) chairman Wong Hee Sieng, Sibu Volleyball Association Chairman Dato Moh Wung Ming and Sarawak Sports Corporation central zone officer-in-charge Mikar Changgan.
Annuar said the outreach programme at Swan Sqaure at Jalan Ling Kai Cheng which started yesterday was very encouraging while another one at Dewan Foochow at jalan Salim is expected to start soon.
“We have also reached out to KPJ Specialist Medical Centre to help carry out the outreach programme, and I have proposed to them to look for a place in Lanang areas,” he said.
He said the KPJ outreach programme is expected to vaccinate 1,000 doses per day during the coming weekends.
As of yesterday, Annuar said Sibu only had one red zone, that is the Tiong Hua Zone.
“We hope that this situation will improve further so that there will be no more red zone in Sibu,” he said.
He said the mobile outreach programme in Jalan Tiong Hua had taken a different approach.
“The vaccination exercise was conducted in the evening after 5pm after people are back from work. We are using buses to carry out the vaccination and we prefer them to come in the evening,” he said.
Annuar also reiterated that inoculation exercise in Sibu Division was on the right track at the moment.
“However, we do not want to say we have overcome the epidemic as it will be too optimistic. Let us wait for another one or two weeks before we can see the results. The crowd at all the vaccination centres is very good and encouraging thus far,” he pointed out.
He also mentioned that the industrial vaccination centre (PPVIN) housed at the University College of Technology Sarawak (UCTS) had successfully vaccinated about 14,000 people since it began operation on June 28.
“They are now going into the second phase, meaning that smaller companies with 200 or 100 workers can apply to get the vaccination, as previously only companies with over 1,000 workers were eligible.
“They are also opening up the vaccination to coffee shops operators, barbers and also central market hawkers, all aiming at hitting herd immunity faster,” he said.