SOME of Sarawak’s villagers have to fork out between RM60 and RM100 just to get to their assigned vaccination delivery centres (PPV) to get their Covid-19 vaccination, said Deputy Chief Minister James Masing.

This was the amount some of the 256 people from 11 longhouses in his remote Baleh constituency had to pay for a boat ride to the SK Nanga Oyan vaccination centre.

He said the furthest longhouse to the PPV is 5km, in a straight line, but by river it could be a little further.

Costs vary depending on the size of the boat’s outboard engine fuel tank and the distance from their longhouse to SK Nanga Oyan.

Masing, who spent yesterday and today inspecting the PPVs in the Kapit division, said those who took 4x4 vehicles for the road trip to the PPV also incurred some costs.

Travelling a 5k-stretch on the dusty, bumpy logging road could sometimes take an hour.

Masing also said Kapit folks who are working or now live in towns like Sibu, Bintulu and even Kuching have no qualms driving hundreds of kilometres just to get back “home” to get vaccinated.

“Most of those vaccinated in Kapit town PPV are not only people in Kapit and the neighbouring longhouses.

“Kapit people who reside in Sibu, Bintulu and Kuching, who found it so difficult to get their turn to be vaccinated via MySejahtera (have registered to be vaccinated in Kapit),” he said.

The distance by road from Kuching to Kapit is about 295km.

The PPVs in Kapit, the largest town on the upper reaches of the Rajang river, the country’s longest, practise the “vaccinate first, register later” policy.

Masing said the PPVs there will vaccinate anyone “as long as they possess a Malaysian identity card”.

Yesterday, he added, the 16 teams deployed by the health department to the Kapit division had managed to vaccinate 4,128 people.

He also said he had been informed that if enough vaccines are available, the department could easily vaccinate up to 6,000 people per day.

“If (we get) 21,000 doses per week as promised by Kuala Lumpur, the Kapit division can attain the 80% herd immunity by the end of July,” Masing said. – June 22, 2021.