Follow appointments, no walk-ins to vaccination centres allowed

 By Olivia Miwil - July 21, 2021 @ 2:47pm

Sabah Community Development and People's Wellbeing minister Shahelmey Yahya refuted viralled messages that people can now walk into the vaccination centres without appointment.- Pic courtesy of NST reader
Sabah Community Development and People's Wellbeing minister Shahelmey Yahya refuted viralled messages that people can now walk into the vaccination centres without appointment.- Pic courtesy of NST reader

KOTA KINABALU: People still have to follow their appointments to get their Covid-19 vaccination, said Sabah Community Development and People's Wellbeing minister Shahelmey Yahya.

He was referring to several circulated messages that people can just walk into the vaccination centres in Putatan and Penampang to get their inoculation.

"But if any elderly person aged 60 and above residing in Putatan area, comes forward to get vaccinated, he or she would be accepted. We will give priority to the elderly. The same goes to Penampang (vaccination centres)," said the Tanjung Keramat assemblyman.

Shahelmey, who is also in charge of state health, added that such measures were temporary initiatives by respective district Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force and vaccination centres to encourage more senior citizens to be vaccinated.

Meanwhile, Sabah deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin said relevant authorities should consider a "walk-in" approach to vaccinate people of Sabah especially those from rural areas.

Hesaid that people from remote places have difficulty accessing the internet.

The Kinabatangan member of parliament added that by having more methods apart from using MySejahtera application, such as walk-in and drive-through could ensure Sabah achieved the herd immunity as targeted.

"As the elected people's representative that concerns the wellbeing of people, I would like to urge the federal government to expedite the vaccine supply for Sabah to immunise the people.

"This is a matter of health and welfare of Sabah people that must be prioritised.

"It cannot be delayed as we are facing an even more dangerous Covid-19 virus following the discovery of more transmissible variants," he said.

As of yesterday, Sabah is still at the bottom list of vaccination statistics in the country, with only 368,267 or 9.2 per cent of the total population having completed their inoculation.



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