ABOUT 56.1% or 80,884 of the 144,180 Orang Asli in the country who are eligible for Covid-19 vaccination have received their shots, Deputy Rural Development Minister Abdul Rahman Mohamad said.

He said the number of them having received the first or both doses of the vaccine or the single-dose CanSino vaccine had reached 128,548 yesterday.

“Three states, namely, Terengganu, Kelantan and Johor have recorded the lowest vaccination rates among the Orang Asli with the estimated number of those who have not received the vaccine jabs at 16,127.

“For the Orang Asli in these three states, the Health Ministry (MOH) will be using the CanSino vaccine to increase their vaccination rates as their villages are mostly located in interior areas,” he said in a statement today.

Rahman said the Rural Development Ministry, through the Department of Orang Asli Development (Jakoa) was always collaborating with the MOH, the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry and Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force to speed up the vaccination exercise for the Orang Asli.

“Vaccination priority is given to the Orang Asli through the outreach programme, a commitment by the ministry and Jakoa in view of them mainly living in the interior areas and having logistical and transportation problems,” he added.

He also said that optimum use of the government’s assets such as helicopters and boats to the interior areas could increase the community’s vaccination rate. – Bernama, September 13, 2021.