SIBU, June 30 ― Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg today said he is confident that Sibu Division will have 80 per cent of its population vaccinated by mid-August this year, based on the daily rate of vaccination.
He said as of yesterday, a total of 149,743 or 64.4 per cent of the Sibu Division population have at least received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccines.
“Our daily target for Sibu Division set by the state Health Department is 4,779 for June, 5,836 for July and 7,260 for August.
“However, in June for the past few days, we have achieved averagely more than 6,000 per day,” he told reporters after visiting the vaccine administration centre at University College of Technology Sarawak (UCTS) here.
“At present, our focus is accelerating the vaccination process throughout the state. This means that if we achieve herd immunity or 80 per cent of our population has been vaccinated, our economy will be opened and we will live normally like before,” he said.
The chief minister said various types of vaccination centres have been set up to accelerate the vaccination process for Sibu Division.
He said the Sibu Hospital, Kanowit Hospital and the health clinics at Lanang, Sibu Jaya and Selangau have been operating as vaccination centres since early this year, initially for the frontliners.
“These hospitals and clinics continue as the vaccination centre till now to serve all their in house patients and publics,” he added.
He said the Sibu Indoor Stadium is the first public vaccination centre that opened its doors on April 19 with an initial daily capacity of 1,600 people and aims to increase the capacity daily up to 2,600 people.
He added the Selangau District multi-purpose hall and Kanowit District Office community hall have a daily capacity of serving 400 people each and aims to increase the daily capacity to 800 people each.
The chief minister said the second vaccination centre in the Sibu district is Sibu Jaya multi-purpose hall which has been operating since June 12 serving 400 to 600 people daily.
He added the state government has also included the Rejang Medical Centre and KPJ Sibu Specialist Medical Centre in the vaccination programme.
“The daily capacity for Rejang Medical Centre is 1,000 people and currently operating in our Dewan Suarah Sibu to cater for more people daily.
“As for KPJ Sibu Specialist Medical Centre, it aims to increase its daily capacity to 500 people in the near future,” the chief minister said.
He added seven general practitioners have also been approved to operate as vaccination centres.
Abang Johari said this morning he launched four mobile teams for the Sibu, Kanowit and Selangau Districts.
He added the mobile teams will be mobilised as far as Nanga Ngungun in the Kanowit district, Bukit Arip in the Selangau district, Bawang Assan and Durin in the Sibu district.
