KUCHING: Sarawakians who do not have MyKad will not be turned away from the Covid-19 immunisation programme as long as they have verification from their village headmen or community leaders, says Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.

       The Chief Minister said stateless individuals could approach their local leaders to verify that they were born in the state in order to get vaccinated.

       "It's not a problem. If they don't have MyKad, the community leaders or headmen can verify that they were born and reside in the village and we will give them the jab.

       "After all, the headmen or community leaders would know who their villagers are," he told reporters after visiting the Longi (Kuching) Sdn Bhd industrial vaccination centre at Samajaya High Tech Park here on Friday (June 25).

       Abang Johari also said Sarawak was aggressively stepping up the vaccination programme in order to complete it by August.

       He said this included deploying mobile teams to longhouses and villages by river, road or helicopter.

       "We also use the jab first, register later approach in rural areas to accelerate the vaccination in longhouses and villages. This has proven successful," he said, adding that more than one million doses had been administered throughout the state so far.