COVID-19 - CM Abang Johari, Don’t Wait, Buy The Vaccine Now!
"It’s painful… who said it wasn’t painful? The whole body felt like I was having nerve pain. You felt fatigued and weak, and if it attacked your head like me, Allah… it felt like your head was going to explode ” This very graphic description of sufferings of a COVID.19 patient came from Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin.
https://www.bernama.com/en/general/news.php?id=1927836
He was tested positive for COVID.19 in the 2nd week of Jan 2021.
Everywhere around the world the experiences of other COVID.19 patients who survived to talk about their experiences with COVID.19 speaks of the excruciating pain they had to endure as they fought for their lives.
Bernama news portal today (3rd Feb 2021) reported that international investors had withdrawn RM535.5 million worth of investments from our local stock market the previous weeks, on fears that the COVID.19 vaccine roll out globally may be slow. A slow roll out of the vaccine will retard global economic growth. A slow roll out will also retard Malaysia’s recovery.
https://www.bernama.com/en/business/news.php?id=1927608
The two episodes mentioned above are just 2 examples of the deep impact of the COVID.19 pandemic on people and on the economy.
In the battle against COVID.19, where are the areas on concerns for Sarawakians? So as not to miss or forget what has been said or done by the Malaysian government, let us recall a few key points.
Malaysia’s population for 2020 was projected at 32.7 million. It has been reported that for ‘highly effective’ vaccine like Pfizer-BioNTech, countries like Britain are giving every citizen 2 doses. Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin and the the DG of Health Dr. Noor Hisham have said that the vaccine that the Malaysian government is procuring is the Pfizer-BioNtech.
It is important to note that until today the World Health Organization (WHO) has not been able to determine what is the herd immunity threshold for COVID.19 and so we must assume that the entire population of Malaysia must be vaccinated against COVID.19. However Khairy Jamaluddin had earlier said the government expect to vaccinate 80% of all Malaysians or roughly 26.2 million people
https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/herd-immunity-lockdowns-and-covid-19
In a news report carried by The Star today we are informed that the Malaysia has purchased 12.8 million doses. At 2 dose per person, that would be enough for 6.4 million people, including 500,000 front liners. The same news report also said Malaysia is committed to purchase another 12.2 million doses. It would do us well to note that commit to purchase is not exactly the same as purchase. If the purchase is confirmed, that batch will be enough for another 6.1 million Malaysians.
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2021/02/02/first-batch-of-pfizer-vaccine-to-arrive-on-feb-26
What we can conclude from the information already in public domain now is this: Firstly, based on the Malaysia’s population estimates for 2020 which pegged the population at 32.7 million people, we are looking at roughly 13.7 million people who may not have access to the government provided vaccine under the first phase of the vaccination plan. This 13.7 million Malaysians will have to wait for the second phase which most likely will only be in 2022.
"The question now is how does Sarawak fit into this plan? Will the vaccination be equitably done or will Sarawak be left behind?"
With this in mind, once again we call on the CM Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari and the GPS government of Sarawak to act immediately. Buy the vaccine now before market forces makes it difficult to buy it at an early stage. Depending completely on the federal government may prove to be a serious error in judgment as any delay or insufficient supply will not only pose serious danger to Sarawakians but also retard efforts to rehabilitate Sarawak’s economy.
We do not now want any Sarawakians to undergo what Hamzah Zainuddin went through and we do not want any Sarawakians to add to the statistics on poverty in Sarawak or continue to remain in the B40 category because their source income is lost to COVID.19. The situation with Sarawakians struggling to put food on the table is already at critical level.
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