SARAWAK will buy its own Covid-19 vaccines if the national vaccination programme does not cover all the state’s 2.2 million people, Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah said.

“We have been informed by the Health Ministry that they have drawn up a vaccination plan for the whole country.

“If the vaccination by KKM (Health Ministry) does not cover all Sarawakians, we will intervene,” said Uggah who chairs the state disaster management committee on the coronavirus

“We will see how the situation goes. The chief minister has given a promise to the people of Sarawak that everyone will be vaccinated.”

Uggah was speaking in his first Covid-19 media conference of the year, in Kuching today.,

Earlier today, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be distributed in urban areas and the AstraZeneca vaccine in rural areas.

This is because the Pfizer vaccine requires storage at extremely low temperatures and special freezers will need to be procured.

Khairy said the vaccines will be administered on a voluntary basis and volunteers will be able to sign up for it on the MySejahtera app.

Uggah said that the state disaster committee had drawn up a list of problems Sarawak could face should the national vaccination drive fall short of expectations.

He said one of the problems would be storage facilities for the Pfizer vaccine, and logistics to reach residents in remote areas.

“We are learning from the Americans and problems they faced. We hope all the bottle necks are pre-empted.” – January 5, 2021.