Covid-19: 94,500 doses of Pfizer vaccine expected to arrive in Sabah to ease shortages

KOTA KINABALU: A supply of 94,500 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is expected to arrive in Sabah soon to ease shortages that led to the rescheduling of second dose appointments to recipients.

State Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said that the Pfizer vaccines were expected to arrive here from Kuching in a few days.

"It was supposed to arrive yesterday (Friday) but an Air Force aircraft had some mechanical problem and alternative transport is being arranged," he said on Saturday (Aug 28).

On Friday (Aug 27), many who turned up at the vaccination centre (PPV) at Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) for their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine had their appointments rescheduled.

The Pfizer second jab appointments scheduled from Aug 28 to Sept 2 were rescheduled to Sept 3-10. The SICC PPV, one of the largest in the states, operates from 8am to 5pm daily.

Over the past week, Masidi said Sabah already received 515,150 vaccine doses - Pfizer (351,150 doses), Sinovac (70,000) and CanSino (94,000).

Health authorities have begun administering the single dose CanSino vaccines to people in far-flung islands amid efforts to build herd immunity as Covid-19 cases spiked in the state.

On Saturday, the number of positive cases dropped to 2,834 from 3,010 cases recorded on Friday.

He said 61% or 1,751 cases detected on Saturday were from direct contact while 27.5% or 778 cases were from symptomatic screening.

Masidi said Kota Kinabalu recorded 603 cases and its neighbouring Penampang district recorded 396 cases.

He said there were two new clusters, one involving a wedding ceremony in interior Nabawan that affected 66 people, and another workplace cluster in Kinabatangan district that affected 67 people so far.