Media Statement by YB Kelvin Yii:
The he Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) and Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) should look at mobilising more vaccine administration at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) sooner to help speed up the current vaccination rate and help ease the congestion in other PPVs including the one at Stadium Perpaduan, Kuching.
Currently, BCCK is a special designated PPV only for the opt-in AstraZeneca(AZ) programme where members of the public signed up online and are then given on a first-come, first-served basis by appointment.
My team and I was at BCCK to transport and assist some elderly who we helped register online to their AZ appointment time. The process was very smooth and orderly, and both the medical and non-medical workforce were very professional, friendly and organised throughout the whole process.
Currently they are administering up to 1,000 doses a day and they do have plans to increase after this. I do hope they implement such increase as soon as possible and even consider using it as a hybrid PPV to include not just the AZ vaccine, but also other vaccines that are in the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NCIP) like Pfeizer-Biontech & Sinovac.
This will help “decentralise” some of the congestion experienced by the public at the Stadium, and help accelerate the process. Currently, many still need to wait hours to receive their vaccine especially at the stadium and this is extra taxing especially for the elderly and OKUs.
This will also reduce congestion in one particular PPV and help spread out the crowd in more PPVs. Currently we are informed that we are vaccinating about 2000 daily in the Stadium. Such congestion will continue to increase as we increase the daily target for vaccinations in Stadium to 5000 daily.
This should be done concurrently as soon as possible without the need to wait until the “AZ opt-in” programme finishes.
As we increase our daily vaccination rate in order to achieve the targeted herd immunity, it is important the government look at decentralising more of these large-scale PPVs and open more middle/small-scale PPVs in each constituency. This is not just more convenient for the public but reducing the risk of a spread of the disease in a more congested large-scale PPVs.
We also took the opportunity to thank as many of them for their hard work and dedication as they play our part to facilitate the current vaccine drive. We encourage members of public to continue registering for the vaccine and to turn up for their appointment. We all play a part to stop the spread of this virus and one of the most important part we can play is to get ourselves and our love ones vaccinated and quickly as possible.
Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen
MP Bandar Kuching
