INTEGRATED OUTREACH PROGRAMME TO BE CONDUCTED TO ENGAGE WITH RURAL COMMUNITIES ON COVID-19 VACCINES

Datuk Masidi Manjun

15 Mar 2021

By Wartawan Nabalu News

KOTA KINABALU: The State Government through the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) will implement an integrated outreach programme to engage with the rural communities on Covid-19 vaccination.

Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said the programme will involve state and federals agencies in the field in the nearest future.

“The programme aims to provide detailed explanation on the benefits of Covid-19 vaccination in addition to giving confidence and improving public awareness on the need and benefits of the vaccination.

“The programme also focuses on methods and ways to register as vaccine recipients,” said the state Covid-19 spokersperson in a virtual press conference today.

According to Masidi, the Sabah State Information is actively performing face-to-face public announcements via the Info-On-Wheels (IOW) programme in various Sabahan ethnic languages to.

He said, the department also distributes printed materials related to the vaccination campaign and compliance of standard operating procedures (SOPs) to the public.

“Meanwhile, the Sabah Malaysian Defense (APM) Force is ready to mobilise a total of 200 Covid-19 (ABC-19) Eradication Agents to provide clarification on vaccines and registration of the elderly, people with disabilities (OKU) and other at-risk residents. APM Sabah is also prepared to increase the number of up to 400 members if needed.

“Further discussions with the agencies under the CITF will be held to identify proactive moves in handling registration problem for the immunisation programme such as absence of MySejahtera app access coverage in rural areas,” he explained.

Masidi added that appropriate registration methods and setting up of mechanism to bring those identified as vaccine recipients to Pusat Penerimaan Vaksin (PPV) during the respective date will also be considered.