TRANSPARENCY - A RARE COMMODITY BUT NOT VALUED BY THE POPULACE
https://www.newsarawaktribune.com.my/vaccinated-people-way-below-targeted-number/
The following are my musings on the matter and if you want to view first-hand the figures that are cited in this news report, do go to the FaceBook page of Unit Komunikasi Awam Sarawak (UKAS).
You may want to read up on the various criticisms levelled against the National Recovery Plan (NRP) announced by PM Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on 15th June 2021 in order to get a clearer picture of the context against which I will express my thoughts on the issue.
Chief among the criticisms is the lack of clarity on the strategy and action plan.
https://www.pmo.gov.my/national-covid-19-immunisation-programme/
To my mind, a Covid.19 recovery plan at national level or at state level should start with a vision statement from the government i.e. what state the nation should be in first before the pandemic is considered as fully under control, for example the business sector is fully opened, all government departments and their other arms are operating at full capacity, employment rate restored to the pre-pandemic level and all social and religious aspects of Malaysians’ lives are restored to pre-pandemic state. In short, Malaysia must first return to normalcy or near normalcy.
The vision ought to be followed by an equally clear statement of strategy, stating how the government is to achieve the vision, for example by saying that by a certain date at least 80% of the malaysian population must be fully vaccinated and herd immunity achieved.
This in turn ought be followed by a plan or plans for action that will enable the strategy to be fully and effectively executed, for example, by saying all resources available at the government’s disposal - human and financial, will be mobilized to ensure that at least 80% of the population will be registered for vaccination by a certain date, sufficient stock of vaccines is available, vaccines will be brought to locations that are easily accessible even to Malaysians in the most remote of locations and in the meantime, mass/surge testings will be carried out to identify and isolate all asymptomatic cases among the populace.
The NRP contained almost nothing along those lines and so we can more or less expect that nothing of substance that can bring benefits to the populace will transmit from the plan.
Back to the information from UKAS. You will notice that the Sarawak Tribune reported the news with this caption: ‘Vaccinated People Way Below Targeted Number’. The targeted number in the context of the news report is number of Sarawakians that have registered themselves for vaccination, either through Mysejahtera or other means. That number is 1,405,883 or 68.82% of the targeted number of 2,042,840 Sarawakians. This presumably is 80% of the entire population of Sarawak and the number targeted in order to achieve herd immunity.
The information contained therein does not give any indication as to when herd immunity can be achieved and Sarawakians can returned to pre-pandemic condition of living.
CM Datuk Patinggi had stated that Sarawak hoped to achieved herd immunity by August 2021.
What Sarawakians want to know now is what the government is doing to register the other 636,067 Sarawakians (not counting the PATIs staying/working illegally in Sarawak) who have not registered themselves for Covid.19 vaccinations yet?
Sarawakians also want to know what the government is doing to bring the vaccines to 1,603,321 Sarawakians who have not been vaccinated, out of which 636,067 have not registered?
A person who has not registered for vaccination is like a person whose location is unknown and for them to be part of the herd immunity, they must be located and made to register.
There are roughly 74 days before the targeted date for herd immunity is to be achieved. 50,000 vaccinations per day based on stock of vaccines and Pusat Pemberian Vaksin (PPV) alone may be achievable but without the 1,603,321 people to vaccinate, herd immunity by end of August 2021 may prove to be an elusive target.
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