KOTA KINABALU, June 4 — Sabah Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Masidi Manjun today announced that the state will start the vaccination drive for the economic and essential services sector by next month.
He said the state’s immunisation programme is currently in phase two, and all efforts are being made to increase the vaccination rate.
“More vaccination centres will begin operations this month, including through private clinics.
“In July, the vaccination will be extended to factory workers, retailers, those in the transportation industry and other essential economic sectors,” he said in a statement.
The first phase of the national immunisation programme covered frontliners while the ongoing second phase that began on April 19 involves high-risk groups and those aged 60 and above.
The rest of the population aged 18 years and above will be vaccinated in the third phase, which is scheduled to start this month and is expected to be completed in February next year.
On a separate matter, Masidi reiterated that those working in essential services and goods will not require an approval letter from the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) to travel across districts for work under the movement control order 3.0.
He said that the approval for essential services and goods to operate came under the state government and the local authorities, while the state’s Disaster Management Committee was responsible for preparing the SOPs.
“The state decided on June 2 during a meeting that there was no need to get approval letters from Miti for cross-district travel — only a letter of employment and a permission letter from police are required,” he said.
The detailed SOP for each activity and its network such as agriculture and food industries, manufacturing and factories, tourism, banking and others all come under their respective ministries.
Yesterday, former Miti minister Datuk Darell Leiking took the state government to task for their confusing policies and asked the state to handle all applications for SMEs, manufacturers and businesses to operate.
