SANDAKAN: The Sandakan Area Health Office’s domiciliary team has been mobilised to assist in the administration of Covid-19 booster shots to bedridden residents and those who are unable to go to the vaccination centres.
The initiative was started following applications through a Google vaccination form filled out by family members of such patients.
The special team, according to Sandakan Area Health Officer Dr Johari Awang Besar (pic), was formed eight years ago.
He said this after accompanying the domiciliary team on a visit to residents here.
“The team helps patients with rehabilitation and specific home care, among others, after being discharged from the hospital,” he said, adding they will train the patient’s family on how to provide essential care at home.
In terms of immunisation, he said 57 of such patients have received their vaccinations and booster shots after filling out the vaccination forms obtained from Google.
“The domiciliary team has given out 48 booster doses to the same residents,” he said, adding the team consists of a doctor, an assistant medical officer and two nurses for such residents, who include the elderly, those who are unable to move around and the disabled.
He encouraged people to get their booster doses, even though it is not compulsory, in order to stop the spread of Covid-19.
In Sandakan, he observed that Covid-19 cases in categories Three, Four and Five are largely individuals who have completed their vaccines but have not received the booster shots, as well as those who have not had any Covid-19 vaccine at all.
He explained that the four-in-one Rapid Assessment and Vaccination Operation (Ravo), which began last year, is now being mobilised.
The four-in-one Ravo includes the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids), which focuses on non-citizens who do not attend school, booster doses and those who have not yet received all of their vaccine doses.
People are not forced to receive the immunisation, he stressed, and recipients must also sign a consent form.
Over 700 people attended the launch of the four-in-one Ravo in Batu Sapi in early March, with the majority of them being booster recipients.
He said they will keep Ravo going until April 30 and then assess in May, as well as contact village chiefs to see if there are any residents who haven’t completed their doses and want to be vaccinated.
The immunisation campaign is also taking place throughout the district’s coastal areas, estates, interiors, and other areas.
He also cautioned residents not to become complacent, given the fact that the number of Covid-19 cases in the district has begun to fall.
Everyone should continue to practise the standard operating procedures, he advised.
