The recipients were frontliners, mostly healthcare workers followed by members of other government agencies, who were eligible for the first phase of the vaccination programme which began on Feb 26. – Bernama file photo
KUCHING: A total of 12,961 individuals in Sarawak have been administered with the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine as of March 5, said the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) in a statement yesterday.
The recipients were frontliners, mostly healthcare workers followed by members of other government agencies, who were eligible for the first phase of the vaccination programme which began on Feb 26.
The first phase of the programme is expected to last until April, targeting more than 97,000 frontliners in the state.
The second and third phases would be from the end of March to Aug this year, for 929,000 people in high risk groups and 992,000 people aged 18 years old and above respectively.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, who is also SDMC chairman, had said on Feb 17 that even non-Sarawakian such as expatriates and foreign workers, including illegal ones, would receive their vaccines.
Sarawak’s first batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines arrived in the state on Feb 24, containing 23,400 doses.
They have since been distributed to Kuching, Samarahan, Serian, Sri Aman, Betong, Sarikei, Sibu, Kapit and Mukah divisions from Feb 25 onwards. Bintulu, Miri and Limbang divisions received their vaccine supply on March 4.
The second batch arrived on March 3 containing 31,590 doses.
The third and fourth batches of 4,680 doses each were scheduled to arrive on March 10 and 17 respectively while the last two shipments will arrive on March 24 (14,040 doses) and March 31 (9,360 doses).