KUCHING: Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) has echoed Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing’s call to speed up the Covid-19 vaccination process statewide as the “health crisis has reached a critical stage”.
President Lina Soo, while expressing sympathies on the loss of Masing’s brother and sister-in-law due to the virus yesterday (May 31), said she was sad to hear that the situation in Kapit had, what she claimed, reached a breaking point.
“Prioritising vaccination in the fight against Covid-19 is of utmost urgency as it has been proven in many countries to have slowed down the spread of the pandemic and reduced death tolls,” she said today (June 1).
She noted the announcement by Putrajaya to allow Sarawak to procure its own vaccine supply, saying the authorities should therefore not drag their feet in securing enough supply.
“Since the vaccines from the federal government will only come in dribs and drabs, Sarawak must be proactive to secure the vaccine for our rural population which requires only refrigerator temperature, to speed up the vaccine rollout to achieve maximum vaccination in minimum time.
“Instead, blame is placed on the people who do not register through MySejahtera. Firstly, the app itself is not functioning effectively and secondly, most of our rural folks, especially the elderly, have no smartphones and no access to the Internet,” she said.
To increase the rate of vaccination, Soo suggested that walk-in vaccination pods or centres be set up in shopping malls and community centres where the people could just register on the spot and get the jab, instead of only relying on the MySejahtera app.
“One in 60 Sarawakians is now Covid positive, comparing the incidence of Covid cases to our small population size. Creating a mega event for mass vaccination only generates crowds with exposure to shared facilities which can become super spreader platforms.
“As done in other countries, mobile vaccination vehicles also go to neighbourhoods where the residents can just roll out to get inoculated. For the rural communities, vaccination teams can go to the people in the villages or longhouses to carry out the inoculation process.
“If Mohammed will not go to the mountain, then bring the mountain to Mohammed,” she said.
She mentioned that it would be foolhardy of the authorities to simply follow the dictates of Putrajaya in the vaccination registration process and risk the lives of its population due to bureaucracy and delay.
“Time is of the essence and our Sarawak lives are at stake. Sarawak has a small population size, and even though logistics is a challenge, there is no reason for further delay and laggardness.
“Vaccinating only two million people is not a mammoth task as long as the government has the political will,” said Soo.
