LABUAN, July 27 — The success of the Federal Territory of Labuan in achieving the target of fully vaccinating 80 per cent of its adult population today can be taken as a manifestation of the implementation of the National Recovery Plan (PPN), said Tan Sri Annuar Musa.

The Federal Territories minister said Labuan’s success in the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme could encourage other states to also strengthen their vaccination programmes.

"Labuan used to be in a very dire situation with the highest number of cases and infectivity rate (R-naught) but today, I am very proud of what Labuan has achieved,” he said in a livestream from Putrajaya this morning before a virtual ceremony for the 54,780th individual who completed his vaccination dosage at the Covid-19 drive-through vaccination centre at Universiti Malaysia Sabah Labuan International Campus here.

Labuan today completed fully vaccinating 80 per cent of its adult population and has become the first among federal territories and states in the country to achieve herd immunity against Covid-19.

Annuar said perseverance and persistence were the main factors that helped Labuan health and non-health frontliners in their vaccination drive.

"Besides that, what can be learned from Labuan is the patience of the frontline workers in facing daily cases, which can be stable or rise and fall.

 "So if we are impatient, disappointed, it is possible that we will feel despair and be exhausted but we know when we are patient in facing difficulties, we will finally achieve success as planned,” he said.

Annuar also said the importance of ‘Istiqamah’ (steadfastness) should be emphasised in the implementation of the PPN.

"Although the PPN is until December this year, Labuan has shown a record of its successful implementation as early as July. I hope this can be emulated by other places,” he said.

Annuar said the confidence shown by Labuan frontliners in carrying out their duties during this Covid-19 pandemic has also helped the duty-free island to achieve its vaccination target.

"We have to be confident and not hesitate in fighting the pandemic in various ways by speeding up vaccination. This is what the members of the Labuan Disaster Management Committee have said, and finally, a grateful attitude has also contributed towards pandemic management in Labuan,” he added.

Annuar said with the success of Labuan in the vaccination programme apart from its significant decrease in daily cases, the federal territory will be able to progress to Phase Three of the PPN. — Bernama