KOTA KINABALU, SABAH – Sabah journalists today have begun receiving their jabs against COVID-19 under support of the local government.
A stalwart voice for the 330 practitioners here is Sabah Journalist Association president Datuk Mugunatan Vanar who lauded Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor’s best interests in keeping Sabah’s media healthy.
Names were submitted to the Sabah government for the Health Department’s reconsideration resulting in 300 personnel now shortlisted.
“The nature of our work is that we are always meeting new people…
“All media personnel should take advantage of this opportunity and get vaccinated,” he advised.
Aware of those in the fraternity who worry of the potential side effects, Mugunatan said the reported illnesses are true albeit very rare.
“In fact quite a handful of journalists in Tawau, Sandakan and Labuan have been vaccinated and are doing fine…
“My personal view is that the vaccine is the best thing available to protect your families and colleagues,” he said hoping naysayers to reconsider.
Echoing Mugunatan’s ‘pros outweighs the cons’ stance is Queen Elizabeth Hospital II chief assistant director Dr Wan Sherhan Seruji.
“About 94 people will be vaccinated today (SInovac) and this turnout is great. Getting vaccinated is the only way for us to return to normalcy,” he said.
He reminded those who have not registered for vaccinations to promptly do so as it is the only option out of this dragging pandemic at least for the time being.
Calling the vaccines our “ray of hope” he said he is blessed to have a solid medical team behind him to educate the masses on the vaccines efficiency.
