Press Statement By Chong Chieng Jen :
One week into June, the vaccination rate in Sarawak is still very slow. There is no marked increase in the vaccine rate. Is the GPS Government serious about expediting the vaccination process to reach the 80% target by end of August?
The following table is the number of vaccine doses administered in Sarawak as at the first week of June.
This is an average of 10,736 vaccine doses administered per day, with the maximum number of doses administered per day standing at 14,781 on 7th June, and the number of doses administered in Sarawak dropped to 12,317 the next day on 8th June.
This despite the setting up of the BCCK as an additional Pusat Pemberian Vaksin (PPV) to administer AZ vaccine.
As early as in April, Dr Sim KuiHian boasted that the State Government has capacity to vaccinate 50,000 doses per day and blame it on the lack of vaccine supply on the slowness of the vaccination rate.
On 15-5-2021, his assistant, Dr Annuar Rapaee, the Assistant Minister for Housing and Public Health, announced that Sarawak will get the supply of 500,000 Sinovac within a week (https://www.newsarawaktribune.com.my/state-to-get-500000-doses-of-sinovac-vaccine/).But, there was no such supply even at the end of May, 2 weeks after his announcement.
Instead, on 28-5-2021, Khairy came to Sarawak and announced that Sarawak will be getting 380,000 doses pe week from the Federal Government starting June and that there is no need for the State Government to purchase additional vaccine doses.
Yet, now that first week of June has passed, yet there is still no marked increase in the rate of vaccination in Sarawak.
The GPS Government should know that every day’s delay in the administration of the vaccines will cause unnecessary lives to be lost, prolong the agony of the front-liners and greater economic losses to the State and the people. To the people, there is nothing more urgent than an effective and efficient roll out of the vaccines.
Only yesterday, I have received 2 complaints from members of the public that their appointments for vaccination originally scheduled on 8-6-2021 at Timberland Medical Centres were postponed with last-minute notice by the MySejahtera Apps when they turned out at the Hospital. They were not allowed to receive the vaccine.
Not with standing Dr Sim’s claim that Sarawakians are reluctant to register for vaccination, the reality is that, hundreds of thousands who have registered for the vaccine, some as early as February this year, are still waiting for their appointments to get the jab.
Therefore, the State Government should stop blaming the people and start gettingserious on the job to expedite the vaccination process.
To speed up the vaccination process, it is my proposal that, in addition to the existing PPVs:
- The Government should expedite the involvement of private General Practitioners to administer the vaccination, namely, cut the bureaucracy and allow for “Vaccinate First, Register and Update Later” process. Give the GPs few hundred of doses each at one time and allow public to drop by the GPs’ clinics for vaccination without having to wait for the MySejahtera Apps to allocate the appointment (which is taking ages).
- Set up 100 mobile teams to go around housing estates throughout Sarawak and use the Community Halls or even schools in the vicinities as temporary PPV to administer the vaccination. Equally, the Government should allow for “Vaccinate First, Register and Update Later” process.
The whole purpose of a computer application software (Apps) is to facilitate and make a task easier. It is only under the failed administration of this failed PN Government (#KerajaanPNGagal) that the MySejahtera Apps becomes burdensome and slow down the process of vaccination.
