Sarawak local government and housing minister Dr Sim Kui Hian said 83,588 people have received their first dose while 51,931 have completed two doses as of April 25.

He said 868,471 people or 41.9% (of the adult population) have registered for the vaccine via MySejahtera, however, the figure does not include registrations done manually.

“It is estimated there are about 1.2 million Sarawakians who have registered for the vaccine if we include those done manually – especially among the rural communities,” he told FMT.

He also said Sarawak has the capacity to vaccinate 50,000 people per day.

“We can vaccinate 1.5 million people in a month (30 days) if we have sufficient supply of the Covid-19 vaccine.

“That is why we are confident of completing the vaccination programme by August as I was informed that Malaysia will be receiving another 12.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine between May and July. Hence, Sarawak is expecting to have more supply as well,” he said.

However, Sim said Sarawak will not achieve herd immunity (with 80% population vaccinated) as its current adult population only covers about 70% of the total population.

“Unless we include those aged 16 and above, then we will have 80% of our population eligible for the vaccine, hence, achieving herd immunity,” he added.

Earlier, science, technology and innovation minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the government had agreed to expedite vaccinations in time for the Sarawak state elections.

In order to speed up the vaccination process, Khairy had asked Sarawak to consider using the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The 12th Sarawak state election must be held within 60 days after the term of the current Dewan Undangan Negeri ends on June 6.