Sabah fears checks on foreigners will hurt vaccination process

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government has urged security forces not to stop foreigners because it may deter them from coming out for the Covid-19 immunisation programme.

Chief minister Hajiji Noor said this was needed so everyone in Sabah could be vaccinated.

“We have informed the security forces that this is not the time to check documents, as we need to get all in Sabah vaccinated.

“We will still not be safe if there are those (foreigners) residing in Sabah but who are not vaccinated,” he said in a statement here today.

Hajiji said the Sabah government would once again ask employers in the state to ensure their foreign workers receive the vaccine.

Before this, he said the state had sought assistance from employers to get all their workers screened for the virus.

Hajiji was speaking during a video conference with science, technology and innovation minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who is also the co-chair of the Special Committee on Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply, at the state administrative centre here today.

Khairy had previously said foreigners living in Malaysia will be vaccinated for free under the national immunisation programme, and that this includes undocumented foreign workers.

“In principle, the Cabinet has also agreed to provide the vaccines free for undocumented foreigners,” he said, adding that further discussions were needed to decide how the policy would be implemented.

Meanwhile, Hajiji said that only a fraction of Sabahans have registered for the national immunisation programme and advised people in the state to register for it as soon as possible.

“So far, only about 30% of senior citizens aged 60 and above have registered in MySejahtera for the immunisation programme in Sabah.

“It is imperative for everyone in Sabah to be registered because we want to break the chain of infections,” he said.

Registrations can be done through the MySejahtera application or through the www.vaksincovid.gov.my website.

Those without smartphones, particularly senior citizens, could be registered as a dependent through their children.

Registrations can also be done manually at the nearest public health facilities such as hospitals, district health offices or health clinics.

Hajiji also told Khairy the first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines arrived in Sabah today, adding that the vaccination programme will be carried out in three phases.

The first phase will cover 104,130 frontliners statewide while the second phase will involve an estimated 268,000 people in high-risk groups such as senior citizens, disabled people and those with underlying health conditions.

The third phase will include those aged 18 and above, which is estimated to be around 2.7 million people throughout Sabah.

Hajiji said the state government has taken the necessary steps to ensure the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme is a success such as setting up an immunisation special task force under state secretary Safar Untong.

At the district and grassroots level, he said the respective district officers and community leaders will do their part in implementing the programme.

“Sabah has done the necessary preparations and is ready to implement the vaccination drive,” he said.

The chief minister also concurred with Khairy on the need for mobile units to be set up not only in administering the vaccine jabs but also to register those in far flung areas.

Hajiji said steps have also been taken to disseminate information in various ethnic languages on the programme to the grassroots through the Information Department.

At the same time, he said 195 vaccine dispensing centres, 93 under the health ministry and 102 others, have been set up in Sabah. — Free Malaysia Today