Press Statement By Violet Yong:
I call on the Sarawak State Government to be fully committed that once the vaccines are successfully developed and available, it will provide free Covid-19 vaccination to all Sarawakians.
It is not enough for the Sarawak State Government to just ensuring Sarawakians can have access to the Covid-19 vaccine. What is equally important is, the Covid-19 must be given free of charge to all Sarawakians. All the costs for Covid-19 vaccination have to be shouldered by the government so that no one desiring vaccination will face an economic barrier to receiving one.
So far, the countries which have decided to offer free Covid-19 vaccination include Australia, India, Japan and United States of America.
Given that Covid-19 has been a public health crisis and took away more than 300 lives in Malaysia so far, it is thus crucial for the government to secure sufficient supplies of the safe and effective vaccines once it is ready for purchase so that mass vaccination can be given to all citizens to fight the Covid-19 pandemic at the first available time.
The government cannot escape from its responsibility to protect the lives of the people and keep them safe from Covid-19 infection. Not only that the government has to ensure the coronavirus vaccines procured are safe and effective for use but also the doses are sufficient to distribute to all citizens including Sarawakians.
In the midst of a growing public health crisis, everyone has its own role to play including the government is equally tasked to keep all conserted efforts in place and be ready to receive the successfully developed COVID-19 so that Malaysia can regain all the grounds it lost during the pandemic at the shortest time possible.
Violet Yong
ADUN for Pending
