Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas speaking at an SDMC press conference on Covid-19 in Kuching recently. – Photo by Chimon Upon
KUCHING (May 18): The Covid- 19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) Sarawak has agreed to let the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine be used in Sarawak on a voluntary and first-come, first-served basis by appointment.
This approach will be unlike the AZ opt-in programme carried out in other states which would prioritise those above 60 years old.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, in a statement today, said the AZ vaccine will be supplied to Sarawak with the coordination of the National Covid-19 Immunization Task Force (National CITF) and will be offered to the eligible population in the state.
He also said separate, designated vaccination centres will be set up and prepared for this purpose and they will be announced in due time.
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“The Sarawak Covid-19 Vaccine Advisory Group (SCoVAG) has been following up and reviewing the current global, national and local development of the Covid-19 vaccines in general, and the AZ vaccine, now called Vaxzevria, in particular.
“The SCoVAG had presented its recommendations on using the AZ vaccine for the eligible Sarawak population on a voluntary basis to the CITF Sarawak.
“After the review and presentation, the CITF Sarawak has decided to allow the use of AZ vaccine to complement the Sarawak Covid-19 Vaccination Roll Out Plan,” said Uggah, who is the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman.
Uggah also cited a local newspaper’s online survey of result in favour of giving Sarawakians the option of AZ vaccine as among the reasons for CITF Sarawak’s decision to agree for the vaccine to be used in Sarawak.
“Given this new insight and willingness of the people in Sarawak to have the choice of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the CITF Sarawak has agreed to let the vaccine be used in Sarawak on a voluntary, first-come, first-served basis – by appointment,” he said.
The Borneo Post on May 4 carried out a survey which found that many favoured having the AZ vaccine as an option in Sarawak though they might not necessarily want to be vaccinated with it themselves.
Uggah had noted that the survey found that 69.4 per cent of 1,037 responses were in favour of making the AZ vaccine an option in Sarawak but only 52.9 per cent of 1,040 responses actually wanted to be vaccinated with it vaccine.
The Borneo Post had carried out the survey following the huge success of a AZ vaccine voluntary programme when it was launched in the Klang Valley on May 2 with its 268,000 slots taken up within hours.
It was reported on May 17 that Sarawak has agreed to make available the AZ vaccine on a voluntary basis to the people in the state after initially deciding against it due to public concerns over its side effects.
National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating minister, Khairy Jamaluddin, had told a press conference via Zoom that the state had given its consent, adding that Sarawak would be included in the second round of the vaccine’s opt-in programme.
Khairy had also said that besides Sarawak, the AZ vaccine would also be extended to Johor and Penang for the second round of voluntary vaccinations, which opens for registration on May 23 to 26.
Uggah, in the statement today, also explained why the Sarawak government had initially opted not to not accept the AZ vaccine for its Covid-19 Vaccination Roll-Out Plan.
He revealed that SCoVAG had earlier recommended the use of the vaccine among those above 60 years old in the urban areas, based on the very low overall severe adverse events of 6.5 per million doses and the high benefit to risk ratio among those above 60 years old.
“However, this evidence-based recommendation had to be balanced with the reality in society where many people were wary and hesitant to get vaccinated after the AstraZeneca vaccine was announced to be used,” he said.
Uggah pointed out that following the Federal government’s announcement that the AZ vaccine would be part of the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination roll-out, around 8,000 people had cancelled their online vaccination registration.
He added that there was also increased vaccine hesitancy, with some people not showing up for their vaccination appointments.
“Based on the disturbing lesson learned through the rejection rate of vaccination registration, the CITF Sarawak had opted to not receive the AstraZeneca Vaccine for its COVID-19 Vaccination Roll-Out Plan.
“The Sarawak Government did not want the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme in Sarawak to be jeopardized by the fear and hesitancy due to the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine,” he explained.
Sarawak aims to complete the immunisation programme by August this year, some five months ahead of the national plan but according to Dr Sim, only 1,124,241 Sarawakians have registered for the vaccination out of some 2.2 million targeted by the state.
The Covid-19 vaccines currently being administered in the state are from Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinovac.