By Olivia Miwil - March 13, 2021 @ 11:51am
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah will be able to deliver the Covid-19 vaccines to the people in the state including those living in the interiors, infectious disease specialist Dr Timothy William said.
"If you look at the vaccination programmes for children in Sabah, despite the challenges faced by public health (personnel), we have been successful.
"In terms of maintaining the cold chain (for the vaccine), it has been done before in Sabah, even in the most rural of areas.
"The doctors and nurses here have the required experience. I am very confident with their ability to do this," he said during a talk show by EDGETalk on "Covid-Vaccine: How Safe?" yesterday.
The Malaysian Covid-19 vaccine committee member was responding to the host Dr Philip Lyn's question on whether it is possible to carry out the Covid-19 inoculation in Sabah given the poor infrastructure condition at some parts of the state and the nature of the vaccine which has to be stored in very low temperature.
Dr Timothy said the hospitals had pharmaceutical freezers to house the vaccines, which optimum temperature could be maintained during distribution with the use of liquid nitrogen and carbon dioxide.
He urged the people to take part in the inoculation programme to help protect those categorised under the high-risk group, particularly among the elderly.
"I have treated many infectious diseases. My view on Covid-19, it is not just the flu but a deadly disease. It has affected many people in the world and about two million have succumbed to the virus.
"There are people who showed severe symptoms of Covid-19. There is a subset of patients, regardless of what doctors do, they (patients) still ended up dying despite being treated at the best hospitals.
"How about those who did not die but developed morbidities such as thrombolysis, myocardial infarctions following the infection?" he said.
As of yesterday, 20,970 people in Sabah have received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine which is about 10 per cent of the cumulative number of vaccinations in the country.
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