Sabah minister: Don’t be choosy about vaccine variety

KOTA KINABALU: People should not be “choosy” about the Covid-19 vaccine variety, says a Sabah minister.

Community Development and People’s Wellbeing Minister Shahelmey Yahya (pic) said what was most important was for the people to be protected from the virus.

“It should not be an issue. We must focus on getting vaccinated so that we can gain self-immunity against Covid-19, ” he told reporters after receiving the first shipment of the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine here yesterday.

He said the 9,040 doses of Sinovac would be kept at a temporary storage centre before distribution to 26 centres, adding that the vaccine would also be used in the first phase of the programme involving frontliners.

On registering rural folk who are unable to use the MySejahtera app, Shahelmey said that it was being tackled through a special committee under district officers and grassroots leaders.

“Vaccination for the elderly and people with disabilities will be done under Phase Two, ” he added.

He said so far in Sabah, only 286,000 of an estimated three million people had registered for vaccination with the special committee.