More than 250,000 people in Sabah eligible for vaccine booster

 By Olivia Miwil - October 20, 2021 @ 2:33pm

Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor also led the State ministers to receive their booster shots marking the launch of the programme. - NSTP/MOHD ADAM ARININ

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah will start administering Covid-19 booster doses for about 60,000 healthcare and non-healthcare frontliners from today.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said the frontliners would be the first to receive booster doses under the Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme (NIP) in Sabah until Nov 20.

The second stage will begin on Nov 2 for 193,953 senior citizens aged 60 and above and those with underlying comorbidities.

The booster dose is free under NIP and dispensed to recipients voluntarily after completing their vaccination at least six months earlier.

Eligible individuals will be notified through the MySejahtera application, while the Vaccine Administration Centre (PPV) would be making announcements SMS or call those without the applications.

"Although receiving the booster dose is a choice for individuals, it is highly recommended they take it to get optimum protection from Covid-19," he said when launching the vaccination programme at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) here.

Hajiji also led the State ministers to receive their booster shots marking the launch of the programme.

On another note, Hajiji urged the people not to take things for granted following the lifting of the inter-district and inter-state travel as well as re-opening of several economic sectors in the state.

"We must ensure we fully comply with the Standard Operation Procedures (SOP). We have to protect not only ourselves but also those around us, particularly our families," he said.

He also urged those who have yet to be vaccinated to do so by going to the nearest PPV, hospital and clinic or visiting the outreach programmes near them.

"Please go and get the vaccine. We want to flatten the Covid-19 curve as much as possible," he said.

As at Oct 18, about 70.8 percent of adults aged 18 years and above in Sabah have been fully vaccinated while 319,707 or 73.67 per cent of the 434,000 teenagers above 12 years old have received one dose of the vaccine.

About 50.31 per cent or 218,367 teenagers (aged 12 and above) in the state have been fully vaccinated as of Oct 18.

Hajiji said that 2,355,859 million people have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine while 2,140,780 million have completed their vaccination.