Sarawak’s fight against Covid-19 to kick off this Friday, says Uggah

0

Uggah in a discussion with Local Government and Housing Minister Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian while waiting for the shipment of vaccines to arrive at the Raya Air Warehouse at the cargo area of Kuching International Airport this evening.

KUCHING (Feb 24): The state’s fight against Covid-19 will kick off this Friday with a total of 23,400 doses of the long-awaited Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to be administered to frontliners, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.

He said the vaccination will be carried out in Kuching and Sibu with Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg the first to be given the jab.

“Today we witness a historic event which all Sarawakians have been waiting for which is the arrival of the first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

“This is the first package for our frontliners and we thank our Prime Minister and the federal government for ensuring that Sarawak receives the Covid-19 vaccine it requires,” he told a press conference after receiving the shipment of vaccines at the Raya Air Warehouse at the cargo area of Kuching International Airport this evening.

The first batch of vaccines arrived on board a Raya Airways flight at 6.18pm from Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang.

Uggah, who is also State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman, said the committee and Resident office are now working very closely with the State Health Department to prepare the logistics to transport the vaccine.

“This is to make sure that the people living in the interiors of Sarawak will also receive the vaccine.

“The process is very tedious and it needs a lot of planning, manpower and materials,” he said, adding that Abang Johari has also approved RM30 million for logistics arrangement of the vaccines.

He also said that the movement of the vaccine are all to be delivered by road.

“The vaccines are stored in a special container and all will be delivered by road.

“We will also make sure that the vaccines will be escorted by the police and that they arrived at their destination.

“These vaccines are very valuable; more valuable than gold,” he said in jest.

When asked whether the vaccines can be delivered by air to other regions of the state, Uggah said there were some requirements of the vaccines that cannot be made via helicopter or the plane.

“That is why we are delivering them on land which complies with the standard operating procedures,” he explained.

He said the state vaccination programme is one of the greatest exercise undertaken by SDMC.

“We hope that with the experience SDMC has gained in managing crisis, they will be able to face this challenge,” he added.

He called on Sarawakians to take this opportunity to sign up for the free vaccination by registering through the MySejahtera app or their respective Resident and district offices.

“We hope that everyone will be patient when going through the process because we want to make sure that the vaccines are administered properly,” he said.

Also present were Local Government and Housing Minister Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, State Secretary Datuk Amar Jaul Samion and State Health director Dr Chin Zin Hing.