SIBU: A total of 924 senior citizens in Sibu district received their Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as part of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Phase II which took place on Monday (April 19).
Assistant Minister of Local Government and Housing Dr Annuar Rapaee said the recipients of the second phase of the immunisation programme are senior citizens and people with disabilities (OKU).
“They will receive their second dose in three weeks’ time,” he said when officiating at the launch of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Phase II at Sibu Indoor Stadium today (Apr 19).
Also present were Senator Robert Lau Hui Yew, Sibu Division Acting Resident Wong Hee Sieng and Sibu Division Health Officer Dr Teh Jo Hun.
The one-day programme started at 8am and ended at 5pm.
Dr Annuar who is also the Assistant Minister of Education, Sciences and Research Technology stated that the Sibu Division Disaster Management Committee (SDDMC) is awaiting the list for OKU who will be receiving the vaccine.
The second phase of the immunisation programme focuses on senior citizens, individuals with comorbidities and the OKU.
The SSDMC coordinator also said that 140 medical frontliner staff received their first vaccine dose at the centre too.
In order to facilitate the administration of the vaccine in the next phase, the Nangka assemblyman said SSDMC has identified 17 vaccination centres throughout Sibu division for that purpose.
“However, for today, the only vaccination centre is at the Sibu Indoor Stadium as it can accommodate more people,” he added.
Meanwhile, Wong said that SSDMC has targeted to register approximately 70 percent of the 300,000 residents in the division for the vaccination programme.
He said that so far, 80 percent have registered for the vaccination through MySejahtera and manual registration.
“From this figure, 50 percent have been added into the system,” he said.
Sibu was selected as the first division in the state to start the second phase of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.
