ALMOST half of Sarawak’s 61 Covid-19 deaths reported so far this year were those who had not received the booster vaccination, state health department director Dr Ooi Choo Huck said.

From the first day of the new year to last Monday, 29 people, or 47.5% of the deaths, had not had their booster shot when they died from Covid-19 complications, he told The Malaysian Insight.

He said the 29 had completed their two-dose primary vaccination but died before getting their booster shot.

Complications that developed after contracting the infection killed another 20 people even though they had taken the booster dose more than 14 days before their death.

The 20, making up 32.8% of the deaths, is the second largest group to die from the coronavirus.

Another 11 people who have not been inoculated, including two children who are not eligible to receive the vaccine, have also died from the deadly viral infection, Ooi said.

There was also one death where the victim had an “incomplete vaccination” status.

The victim, a foreigner, had received only one dose of the Chinese vaccine Sinovac before being tested positive and died from complications brought on by the infection.

Ooi said 85% of the deaths were victims who were over 60 years old and had a history of comorbidities.

He said based on these statistics, Sarawak registered a mere 1.25 deaths for every 100,000 people who had received the booster dose compared with 13.51 deaths per 100,000 who did not get the booster dose.

To date, 298,341 people have been infected in the state with 1,690 deaths recorded.

Nationwide, the death toll stands at 34,938 as of Thursday, of which 7,381 were dead-on-arrival cases. – April 2, 2022.