Masiung helped in the works on the church building.
TONGOD: The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) should be reviewed and current strategies should be improved in order to speed up vaccination for the entire country.
Kuamut assemblyman, Datuk Masiung Banah described the available immunization programme as too bureaucratic and has resulted in overlap of the standard operating procedures (SOP) between the Sabah State Government and the Federal Government.
“We see that the role played between the ministries, departments and government agencies are not coordinated and should be revamped. Confusions in the functions also contributed to the rise in Covid-19 cases,” he said when visiting the herd immunity programme at Kampung Tampasak near here, yesterday.
Earlier, Masiung visited the construction site of the temporary Anglican Church building at Kampung Saguon where he also donated building materials.
Tongod District Officer, Mohd Fauzi Norbeh, and Community Development Leader Unit (UPPM) Officer, Tokyo @ Abdul Hashim Omar, accompanied him in the visits.
Masiung, who is also Sabah Housing and Town Development Authority (LPPB) Chairman, said that the restructuring of PICK needs to be carried out by appointing health specialists at every state.
He also proposed that the government allowed vaccines to be sold in the market through vendors who are appointed at every state as an effort to speed up the vaccination process.
He said that the government agencies and private entities including industry players with a large number of employees must be given the relaxation to purchase the vaccines for their workers.
“What we see now is the number of people registering for the vaccination is more than those who have been vaccinated,” said Masiung, adding that some who registered for the vaccination since March have yet to be vaccinated due to insufficient supply of vaccine.
He also opined that the public and employers should be free to pick which vaccine they want if it were available in the market.
As of yesterday, only 4.5 percent out of 23 million people in the country have been vaccinated with the first and second doses.
Masiung claimed that the present immunisation programme is slow since the latest statistic shows that only over seven million people have been vaccinated, which is nine percent.
And of the total, only 1.9 million people have completed the vaccination (two doses) while five million have received the first dosage.
