IPOH, Aug 30 — Perak has received a total of 2,383,460 Covid-19 vaccine doses as of August 28, said Mentri Besar Datuk Saarani Mohamad.
He said that the state had received four different vaccines, namely Comirnaty-Pfizer (1,279,376 doses), Sinovac (1,007,264 doses), AstraZeneca (94,820 doses) and CanSino (2,000 doses).
“Perak is among the states that achieved a high percentage of usage rate of vaccine stocks supplied, which is between 89 per cent and 95 per cent,” he said in his winding-up speech at the State Assembly today.
Saarani said the Perak Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) Committee has been working hard to get additional Covid-19 vaccines, but at times, the supply has been delayed and this has affected the task force’s plans.
“However, the state government welcomes the August 29 announcement by the prime minister who ordered that the vaccination rate in six states, including Perak, be increased by more than 50 per cent by the end of September,” he said.
Saarani also noted that daily Covid-19 cases have been increasing along with bed occupancy in hospital intensive care units (ICU) lately.
“To tackle this, we will raise awareness and enhance the enforcement of the standard operating procedures (SOP). We will also try to increase registration for the vaccination via the Outreach programme,” he said.
Separately, Saarani also said that the state has started a pilot project to develop Non-Radioactive Rare Earth Elements (NR-REE) mining using the new in-situ leaching technique in the Hulu Perak district.
“This latest mining technique is unlike other conventional open-mining techniques. It is more sustainable and environment friendly,” he said.
He said that the project is the result of cooperation between Mentri Besar Incorporated (MBInc) and a Chinese government-linked company
“At this moment, only the China’s government-linked company has the in-situ leaching NR-REE mining technology.
“Therefore, at this early stage, the extracted NR-REE minerals will be exported to China for further processing to isolate and extract the 17 mineral elements contained in the lanthanide groups that have different commercial values,” he said.
However, Saarani said that MBInc is still exploring the potential of NR-REE mining techniques used by other countries utilising different methods as a comparison with ongoing pilot projects.
“MBInc has also begun to explore collaborations with scientists and experts from local institutions to conduct research as well as find the best and safest methods to extract these new NR-REE minerals,” he added.
