KUCHING, April 15 — The Sarawak government has asked the federal government to supply the state with the single-dose CanSino Covid-19 vaccine, said State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.

He said as the China-made vaccine only require a single dose, it is therefore more feasible for this vaccine to be supplied to Sarawakians who are living in the interiors.

"We have requested for at least 600,000 to 800,000 of CanSino vaccines to be supplied to Sarawak as this will facilitate the vaccination of people in the interiors, so that we don’t have to go there twice.

"We are taking all the necessary steps including our preparedness to purchase the vaccines so that our target to vaccinate Sarawakians by the end of August this year can be achieved,” he told a press conference here today.

The Deputy Chief Minister said he has spoken to Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who assured that the federal government will provide the vaccines needed by the state.

"At the same time, we are also waiting for final approval for the state government to purchase whatever is necessary to supplement what is being supplied by Kuala Lumpur (federal government),” he said.

He also said that Khairy has agreed that Sarawakians living in rural areas do not have to follow Phases 2 and 3 of the Covid-19 vaccination programme.

"We will give the vaccine to those in rural areas all at one time. If we were to choose who is qualified for Phase 2 or 3 this will complicate things further especially for rural areas,” he said.

Phase 2 of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme covers senior citizens, people with disabilities and those with chronic diseases while the third phase of the programme will involve adults aged 18 and above.

Meanwhile, Uggah said the second phase of the vaccination programme will commence on April 19 starting with Sibu and followed by all divisions throughout Sarawak at the designated vaccination centres.

"We had a meeting with all the residents who are preparing for the designated vaccination centres this morning and we are very happy with the planning and preparedness to start the vaccination in Sibu,” he said.

He urged those who have yet to register for the vaccination to do so via the MySejahtera app or manually at their respective district offices or public health clinics.

"A lot of rural folk do not have MySejahtera so our mode of registration to do it manually is accepted by Kuala Lumpur (federal government).

"Our secretariat will assist the people to key in their details to the MySejahtera secretariat in Kuala Lumpur and it’s done very smoothly,” he said, adding that Sarawak currently has 66 per cent who have registered for the programme.

Also present were Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian and Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Sri Fatimah Abdullah. — Borneo Post Online