KOTA KINABALU: Former Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak is optimistic that vaccination is the best solution and is effective to curb the further spread of Covid-19.
He said that his opinion is in line with the urging of Public Health Specialists who believe that the “vaccine is one of the choices that we have to curb the spread of the pandemic.”
Citing the success at many developed nations as an example, Salleh said that vaccination has been proven to reduce the number of cases swiftly.
“For example, in United Kingdom (UK), out of 36 million population, 68 percent of the population had received their first vaccination while 19 million have completed taking the two doses of the vaccine.
“Their immunisation programme is impressive because they were able to vaccinate a hundred thousand people daily. This is because they are not focused on hospitals but have expanded to religious centres such as churches, recreational centres and rural areas,” he said in his latest blog entry.
Salleh who is also the former Communication and Multimedia minister also said that the success has created group immunity which also influenced on UK’s decision to re-open various sectors for the public including allowing 21,000 people to attend the FA Trophy final championship at the Wembley Stadium on May 15.
“Hence, UK’s success should be made an example and an aspiration for the government to improve the weakness of our immunisation system.
“Start by improving the vaccine distribution system and ensure that the registration system for the vaccine is neat and efficient.
Salleh who is also Usukan assemblyman suggested that the national vaccination programme is sped up.
He said that only 1.2 million people out of the 32 million population in Malaysia had been vaccinated.
“If not, it would be impossible for us to reach the 80 percent of population being vaccinated before the end of the year,” he said.
He said that he understood that the programme is moving slowly because insufficient vaccine supply that has been received by Malaysia as a result of monopoly by wealthy nations.
“However, the government has provided its guarantee that the vaccine supply will be remedied by this June and that large scale vaccination will take place after that.
“I believe that the government will do its best for the vaccination programme and will improve all its weaknesses speedily,” he said.
He also urged the people to support the government’s effort to curb the pandemic and free the nation of the Covid-19 threat.
