KUCHING: For Sarawakians above the age of 18 and who are eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine, it is important to be inoculated to achieve the target of vaccinating 70 percent of the population, therefore establishing herd immunity.
Assistant Minister for Education, Science and Technological Research Dr Annuar Rapaee said 72 percent of Sarawakians were above the age of 18, noting that the vaccine is only administered to those aged 18 and above.
“We need 70 percent of the population to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity. So if 72 percent of the people who are supposed to be given this vaccine do not want to take it, we will not be able to achieve the 70 percent target to establish herd immunity,” he said.
He said this in response to a question raised when he was officiating at the closing ceremony of the ‘The Voice of the Brains’ Youth Debate Competition organised by Sarawak Muslim Students Welfare Association (Perkepis) today.
He explained that certain diseases such as smallpox had been eradicated due to herd immunity, whereby the community has antibodies to fight a certain disease.
“We say that when at least 70 percent of the population has these antibodies to fight the disease, then herd immunity is established and the transmission from person to a person gets weaker and weaker. Finally, the virus dies off,” he said.
Noting that many people were concerned about the side effects of the Covid-19 vaccine, Annuar, who is also assistant minister of Local Government and Housing, assured that these effects were negligible.
One of the most severe forms of reaction to the vaccine, he said, was an allergic reaction. However, he said only a minuscule percentage of people would experience such a reaction.
“From the data I have read, out of 18 million people vaccinated so far, only 66 of them have developed such a reaction. This is a very small number of 0.0003 percent and there have been no deaths caused by this allergic reaction to the vaccine,” he said.
Sharing his experience of being vaccinated, he said he only felt some soreness in the injected area and lethargy, adding that he felt completely fine after a day.
Touching on how these Covid-19 vaccines had been developed so quickly, he said technology was very advanced now and there was also a lot of support directed towards the development of these vaccines. Besides, he said there was no problem in getting enough patients to participate in vaccine trials, seeing as the pandemic had resulted in millions of Covid-19 patients worldwide.
“For Sarawak, the vaccination plan will first focus on frontliners, which we hope to finish by April. Then, we will go to those aged 60 and above, those in the high-risk category, and those with disabilities (OKU). We hope to finish that soon, and then we will open to everybody,” he said.
While Annuar said the aim was to complete vaccinations by August, he said this would depend on vaccine supply.
As for types of vaccines, he said this should not be worried about too much – “The most important thing now is that we must stop this pandemic as soon as possible. And that is through vaccinations.”
