Kinabatangan COVID-19 vaccination programme needs to be Intensified - Shahelmy

KINABATANGAN, Sept 8 -- The COVID-19 vaccination outreach programme in Kinabatangan needs to be intensified to boost its vaccination rate, as it is one of the districts with the lowest immunisation rate in Sabah, said the state Community Development and People's Well-being Minister Shahelmy Yahya.

He said the vast interior and oil palm plantations, as well as having only one vaccination centre (PPV), were among the main factors causing the Kinabatangan district to record only 24 per cent of fully vaccinated adults.

Shahelmy, who is also the state immunisation programme operations director, said that the wide expanse of the Kinabatangan district also posed difficulties for its residents to attend the only PPV in the district, at the Datu Paduka Mat Salleh Seminar Hall here.

“We also hope that cooperation can be given by the community, especially those living on oil palm plantations, so that the COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force can mobilise the team for the vaccination exercise of the residents,” he told reporters after a working visit to the district today.

He added that Kinabatangan has about 148,600 residents, who are mostly foreigners, working in 300 oil palm plantations.

Meanwhile, Kinabatangan district health officer, Dr Maini Sabait, said thus far about 100 oil palm plantations and several remote villages had been visited for the vaccination process.

Dr Maini added that the PPV of Dewan Seminar Datu Paduka Mat Salleh also received the presence of the community members for walk-in vaccination, where 1,000 doses of vaccine would be administered daily.

-- BERNAMA