Sarawak’s Local Government and Housing Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Sim Kui Hian said the COVID-19 Immunization Programme in the state started small but managed to scale up fast with the availability of a substantial amount of vaccines from the federal government since June.
Photo via BERNAMA
He said everyone’s extraordinary efforts and support resulted in the state’s high vaccination rate, hence, allowing the state to move into an endemic phase like Singapore and the United Kingdom, as reported by New Straits Times.
However, the people must stay vigilant, continue to live under the new normal following SOPs, with regular testing wherever necessary.
Dr. Sim also said that Sarawak will start vaccinating teenagers aged 16 to 17-years-old first before proceeding to inoculate those aged between 12 and 15-years old.
“We hope we can eventually vaccinate those in the younger age, including children aged between three and 11-years-old. But we need approval from the relevant bodies first,” he said in his Facebook post.
“Although there is a rising number of daily COVID-19 cases in Sarawak due to cases linked to the Delta variant, deaths have dropped, compared to other states in Malaysia. This is due to the high vaccination rate in Sarawak.
“Therefore, do not panic over the high number of daily cases, but try to reduce community transmission so as not to overwhelm our healthcare and hospital system and avoid stretching our medical frontliners,” he said.
The new cases today reflects the transmission in our community in the last 14 days. We will have more cases for next...
Posted by Dr Sim Kui Hian on Thursday, September 2, 2021
As of August 31st, 88.2% or 1,821,499 out of the two million eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in Sarawak have completed two doses.
This is great news! Well done, Sarawak! So, which state do you think will enter the endemic phase next? Sabah, Melaka or maybe… Kuala Lumpur?
By: Aishah Akashah Ahadiat
