Sabah to redeploy manpower to conduct rural vaccination drives

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah will be prioritising vaccination drives through rural outreach programmes and begin closing some of its vaccination centres, said state Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun.

He said the move was to redeploy personnel from vaccination centres to far-flung areas for outreach programmes as such centres in urban areas were no longer operating at their full capacity.

"The vaccination centres have served their purpose of getting people in such areas inoculated," he told reporters after attending the first year anniversary gathering of the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah state government on Wednesday (Sept 29).

"We are redistributing our resources, I can't say how many will close for now," he said when asked about talk that the state was planning to close its vaccination centres despite a low vaccination rate of slightly above 60% of its adult population.

Masidi also said that the state figure of 63.5% of its adults being fully vaccinated was accurate despite the national Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force indicating that the figure was at 59.5%.

"We are more accurate and updated because we manage our own data," he said, adding that the national database took a little more time to compile.

With the state crossing 60% of fully vaccinated adults, Sabah would allow people to travel within certain districts placed under six zones statewide, he said.

Masidi added that districts that had not reached the 60% figure would not be included under the zones.