SERIAN: The Sarawak government will leave it to the health experts in the Sarawak Covid-19 Advisory Group (Scovag) to decide whether the state should purchase the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said he was made to understand that many people preferred the Sinovac vaccine over the Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.
“It could be the reason why many people have not yet registered for the vaccination under MySejatera mobile application.
“So, we will look at the feedback of the people on whether they prefer Sinovac or Pfizer,” he told a press conference after attending the briefing at the Semuja Immigration Detention Deport on Monday (Mar 22).
He said it was not for him to decide on the type of vaccines to buy. It was up to Scovag led by Prof Datuk Dr Andrew Kiyu Dawie Usop to decide.
“The decision by the federal government is that we use Pfizer. But now, Sinovac can be used as well,” he said.
Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said that the state government was making efforts to procure its own vaccines to step up the vaccination programme in the state.
“We have written a letter to Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin on our intention to purchase our own vaccines.
“We will continue to communicate with him and he has made a statement that states can purchase their own vaccines if they can find the suppliers,” he said.
Uggah, who is also the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman, said the state would try to contact the suppliers directly.
