Three per cent of Labuan’s teachers yet to get Covid-19 vaccine shots, says education director

A small number of school teachers here have yet to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, ahead of school reopening on September 1.

Labuan Education director, Yusup Mohamad said the unvaccinated teachers (mostly women) constituted three per cent (40) of Labuan’s total of 1,332 school teachers.

“We have received feedback from these unvaccinated teachers on why they have yet to get the shots. Twenty of them have just given birth (between June and July) or are pregnant, while the remaining 20 have chronic diseases like cancer or heart, allergy to injections or lung complications,” he told Bernama today.

He said a vaccine briefing by Labuan Health Department director, Dr Ismuni Bohari would be held tomorrow for these unvaccinated teachers.

“As far as we are concerned, we want every single teacher to be fully vaccinated before the school reopening next month. This is our initiative towards 100 per cent immunity of Labuan’s school teachers.

“They have all been informed that they must be fully vaccinated before the school reopening.

“We understand that some teachers have their own perception of vaccination, they think that those having chronic illnesses must not be vaccinated. We believe that the various views on the social media platforms play a part in this.

“We will have a face-to-face discussion with these unvaccinated teachers at their homes beginning today, with most of them being in their 40’s and above and from various states in the peninsula, Sabah and Labuan,” Yusup said.

He also said that the vaccination exercise had also been extended to those providing services to the schools such as the canteen operators and their workers, and the contractors.

“The schools’ administration staff (170 of them) like clerks and operations and lab assistants is also ensured of vaccination. Of the number, only two have yet to get the shots due to postponement by the doctors,” he said. — Bernama