SIBU: The vaccination process in Sibu has been well implemented which has resulted in a decrease in the number of Covid-19 cases, said Senator Robert Lau Hui Yew.
The Sibu Divisional Disaster Management Committee (SDDMC) member said this during a virtual session on his social media site on Saturday night where he also said the Sibu division had achieved a vaccination rate of 94 percent for the first dose representing 219,965 people and 79 percent for the second dose (188,098 people).
He said the data was based on the obtained up to August 5 from the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH).
“The percentage and number are based on the recorded Sibu population of 238,000 people.
“If our population is 250,000 people, then the percentage for the first dose is 88 percent and for the second dose is 75 percent,” he said.
Lau, however, believed the population of Sibu is more than that as it involves foreign workers working in plantations, the shipping sector and factories.
He added the migration of people from outside Sibu to nearby districts is also the reason why the population factor is quite difficult to record or to have accurate data.
According to the data he obtained, it is estimated that about 8,000 to 20,000 more people in Sibu have yet to be vaccinated.
“We are still tracking the individuals and therefore we often implement mobile vaccination programmes on a daily basis at various strategic locations to make it easier for the public to get vaccinated.
“I believe individuals who have not been vaccinated according to such estimates or data are likely to consist of foreign workers, sick individuals and so on,” Lau explained.
He explained that over 200,000 individuals in Sibu registered for vaccinations through the MySejahtera application. All of these people have been vaccinated, he added.
“This has caused the vaccination centre (PPV) at the Sibu Indoor Stadium to no longer have a list of names registered through the MySejahtera application where vaccinations are now carried out on a walk-in basis,” said the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Bawang Assan Branch chairman.
Lau said the effects of intensive vaccinations carried out in Sibu saw remarkable drop in mortality rates, admissions to intensive care units (ICUs) at hospitals and cases requiring ventilators (breathing aid).
Vaccination, he asserted, has reduced the number of cases and the severe effects of infection as a result of the outbreak.
However, he said, to have zero Covid-19 case in Sibu now is improbable and the community has to live with the virus.
“How do we live with this virus? We must strictly adhere to standard operating procedures (SOPs) such as always wearing a face mask, washing hands regularly, practising physical distancing and changing our lifestyle with new norms.
“It is difficult to eradicate this virus from the world when health experts around the world do not know when this pandemic will end,” he said.
