KOTA KINABALU, July 16 —  The Sabah Health Department (JKNS) will improve the Covid-19 vaccination process at all vaccination centres (PPV) in an effort to increase the number of daily vaccine recipients in the state.

Its newly appointed director Dr Rose Nani Mudin said among the strategies was to speed up the pre-vaccination assessment process so that more people could receive vaccine shots.

"Most of those present were healthy respondents. Health consultations with doctors are still done after registration, however, a thorough clinical examination is only carried out on those who are feeling unwell or dizziness,” she said in an exclusive interview with Bernama and RTM here recently.

Dr Rose Nani said the new strategies would help in doubling up the number of vaccine administered in Sabah, besides ensuring the target of 40 per cent vaccination rate set under the National Recovery Plan could be realised soon.

"Sabah does not want to be left behind because of our mission and vision is to vaccinate all Sabahans as soon as possible,” she said.

To ensure the smooth vaccination process in the interiors of Sabah, Dr Rose Nani said the Health Ministry and state Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF)  had also set several strategies, including introducing the single-dose CanSino vaccine.

She said the department was still waiting for the supply of the vaccine, but for now, the vaccination process in the area was being carried out as usual.

Meanwhile, Dr Rose Nani, who had been directly involved in the vaccination programme at the national level, including the opening of several mega PPVs in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, said she would use her experience to boost the state’s vaccination rate and capacity.

"I think the methods and strategies (in the mega PPVs) can be adopted in Sabah so that more people can be vaccinated,” she said.

She also reminded the people of Sabah to continue to observe the new norms such as wearing face masks, maintaining physical distancing and washing hands regularly.

"We hope to vaccinate at least 80 per cent of the population so that the infectivity rate and the number of new clusters can be reduced,” she said.

Dr Rose Nani, who was the deputy director (Infectious Diseases) of the Disease Control Division, takes over from Datuk Dr Christina Rundi effective July 13. — Bernama