KUALA TERENGGANU: About 100 teachers in Terengganu refuse to get their Covid-19 vaccine shots, says Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar.
He said the figure represented only a small percentage of the total number of teachers serving in the state.
“I do not know their excuses for not wanting to receive the vaccine jabs.
“All I could do was to advise them to reconsider their decision for the good of all parties including their families and pupils,” he told reporters after the opening ceremony of the First Meeting of the Fourth Session of the 14th State Legislative Assembly at Wisma Darul Iman here yesterday.
Ahmad Samsuri said for the time being, the only approach was to persuade them to accept the vaccination as there were no regulations or laws to allow any action against them.
Asked whether the teachers need to undergo random Covid-19 screening tests when the school session starts, he said it may be one way to tackle the situation if they were willing to take the test every two weeks.
Meanwhile, local government, housing, health and environment committee chairman Dr Alias Razak said the occupancy rate of intensive care unit (ICU) beds in the state was still high at more than 75%, which was a factor why Terengganu has not moved to Phase Three of the National Recovery Plan.
“We need the ICU rate to be at 50% to move to Phase Three, but we are more than 75% now. This is because Covid-19 patients’ admission into ICU is 21 days and this is a long time.
“Even though the daily ICU admissions are small, occupancy got increasingly higher over time as the wait was 21 days,” he said, adding that he expected ICU bed usage to drop in three weeks.
In another development, entrepreneurship, human resource, micro industry and hawker affairs committee chairman Mohd Nurkhuzaini Ab Rahman, who was confirmed positive for Covid-19, was now in stable condition.
Dr Alias said the Kota Putera assemblyman was admitted to Hospital Sultanah Nur Zahirah last week and was expected to be discharged soon. — Bernama