By Olivia Miwil - June 27, 2021 @ 6:12pm
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah DAP voiced concerns over vaccine supply disruption in the state.
Its state secretary Chan Foong Hin, who is also Kota Kinabalu member of Parliament, was referring to several vaccination centres that had to be closed due to shortage of vaccines.
Among them were Dewan IPG Balung in Tawau which will be closed from June 28 until July 4 while Tawau Community Hall will be shut on July 2.
In the Kota Kinabalu district, the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) PPV has to close for several days starting from tomorrow (June 28) and will only reopen on July 5.
The latest is Dewan Sri Putatan which has to stop administering the vaccines even for the first doses.
"How to achieve herd immunity in Sabah by the end of the year with frequent disruption in vaccine supply that numerous vaccination centres have to shut down?"
"How to achieve that number of 30,000 jabs daily when even the UMS PPV which has the capacity to administer up to 1,000 jabs a day, has to stop operation for an entire week only after two weeks in operation?" he said in a statement.
Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor had said earlier this month that he estimated 30,000 jabs daily in July, and that herd immunity could be achieved by the end of the year in Sabah by inoculating up to 80 per cent of the population in Sabah.
Chan said having to reschedule an appointment fixed on MySejahtera application would certainly not go down well with the people, especially after they had waited for so long and had made plans for the day such as taking leave from work, arranging for transportation and people to accompany the disabled and the elderly.
He urged the chief minister to rethink his decision for Sabah to do away purchasing its own vaccines and rely entirely on the federal government.
"It is unwise for Hajiji to put all eggs in one basket and rely entirely on the Federal Government.
"Whilst the Federal Government may promise a certain number of vaccines to be delivered at a certain period of time, there may be delay in the supply chain and logistical issues and the vaccines promised may not arrive on time, not due to anyone's fault.
"This is already happening and affecting the people in Sabah from Kota Kinabalu all the way to Tawau."
Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme (NIP) coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin had pointed fingers at larger and more developed countries in Europe for allegedly hoarding vaccines to the detriment of developing countries.
"Sabahans, similarly, may come to the same conclusion that Peninsula Malaysia has been hoarding vaccines to the detriment of Sabahans by pointing at data showing that only 9.1 per cent of Sabahans have been given their first dose of vaccine as compared to an average of 15.1 per cent nationwide.
"To be fair to Khairy, I intend to believe that no favouritism is happening, but it is important for the Federal Government to ensure timely and adequate supply to Sabah so as to rebut any allegations of favouritism between Peninsula Malaysia and the territories in Borneo.
"The only way out of the vicious cycle of lockdowns and the only way to win over Covid-19 is by way of inoculating the masses."
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