MIRI: Although Sarawak has been acknowledged to be the nation-leading state in terms of COVID-19 vaccinations administered as at 16 June, it would not be resting on its laurels.
Deputy Chief Minister, Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, said there was still room for improvement.
“We want to ensure that all the qualified 2.2 million Sarawakians are fully vaccinated by August this year. We have organised our infrastructure since two months ago and now we are in a very active mode, rolling out our vaccination programme statewide,” said Uggah, who is Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman, when chairing the Miri Division Disaster Management Committee meeting at a hotel here on Friday.
He said the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin had called him on Thursday to congratulate the state on its achievement.
Sarawak on Thursday administered 55,248 vaccinations, the highest achieved in the nation. A day earlier it had done 49,000 vaccinations.
Uggah said Khairy had told him that the federal COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force was amazed with the speed of the state’s vaccination programme.
“So I said thank you and told him to send us more vaccines. Khairy said more shipments are coming our way,” he added.
Uggah said the achievement was due to the strong support, team spirit and sacrifices of everyone involved, in particular, the frontliners.
“We are also very thankful to our Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg who has been very, very supportive. He has even set aside funds for us to buy our own vaccine. We have led the way in the nation and we all should be very proud of our accomplishment.”
On the task ahead, he said it was a gigantic undertaking and challenge, but of tremendous importance.
“To us, we see that the vaccination is the way out of the danger of this COVID-19. We have seen with their vaccination programmes, countries like the USA and UK have registered decreasing positive cases and mortalities,” opined Uggah.
He said the state had a sluggish start due to the delay in getting the vaccine supplies.
“Now our supplies from Kuala Lumpur are more constant. I am very grateful to Khairy and Putrajaya for listening to us and helping us ,”he said.
On the performance by the Miri Division Disaster Management Committee under Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin, he congratulated it for doing very well.
“You have established many vaccination centres and now have the capacity to hit 16,800 vaccinations per day. You have formed mobile teams to go to the interiors, to reach out to even the Penans,” added Uggah.
On problems faced, Uggah said they would be looked into for the appropriate solution.
Earlier he was given a briefing by the divsional community health expert, Dr Noor Izni Mohd Shapie.
Also present was Assistant Local Government and Housing Minister Datu Dr Penguang Manggil, Assistant Tourism Minister Datuk Sebastian Ting, and Sibuti Member of Parliament Lukanisman Awang Sauni.
Public Utility Minister Datuk Seri Dr Stephen Rundi, Assistant Minister of Women, Family and Childhood Development Datuk Rosey Yunus and Telang Usan Assemblyman Dennis Ngau joined through video conferencing .
