KUALA LUMPUR, October 6 — Sabah still has 1,084,453 Covid-19 vaccine doses remaining, out of 4,880,476 total doses the state received in August and September, according to Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Ahmad Amzad Hashim.
This means that more than 20 per cent of total Covid-19 vaccine doses channelled to Sabah remain unutilised, data as of September 26 showed.
In September alone, Sabah received 2.59 million Covid-19 vaccine doses in total, in addition to 299,000 CanSino doses. In August, the state received 1.8 million doses, Ahmad Amzad said.
Sabah continues to have the lowest vaccination rate in the country. As of October 5, about 62.7 per cent of the state’s adult population has been fully vaccinated, with 72.7 per cent receiving at least a single Covid-19 vaccine dose.
“In order to increase the vaccination rate in Sabah, several home-to-home outreach initiatives were implemented as an extension to the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK).
“A total of 51 teams have been mobilised through these outreach programmes in every district in Sabah. As of September 30, a total of 533,293 Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered through these programmes, of which 373,608 were first doses and 159,685 were second doses.
“The government will increase Sabah’s vaccination capacity by increasing these outreach efforts to help the state achieve its targets,” Ahmad Adzam told Parliament today in response to Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin’s inquiry on the federal government’s efforts to speed up Sabah’s vaccination rate.
Chan, in his supplementary question, pointed out that less than 60 per cent of the adult population in several Sabah districts have yet to be fully vaccinated, including Keningau, Semporna, Sandakan, and Tawau, with the lowest vaccination rate in Kinabatangan at less than 40 per cent.
“That is true. In Sabah, only four districts have reached 80 per cent full vaccination (adult population), 9 districts are under 60 per cent, and two districts are under 40 per cent, namely Tongod and Kinabatangan.
“As mentioned earlier, in terms of supply, we have sent a sizeable amount of vaccines to the state to the point where there are over a million doses in excess. However, the utilisation rate is still low and that is why we are multiplying our efforts via outreach programmes as stated.
“We hope community leaders can help us trace those who have yet to be vaccinated so that they can be vaccinated soon,” Ahmad Amzad said.
