SEREMBAN (Bernama): Only about 14,000 individuals from the overall population of 831,107 residents in Negri Sembilan aged 18 and above who are registered under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) have yet to receive their vaccination dates.

       Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun is however confident that they would complete their vaccination as early as next week to enable the state achieve herd immunity soon.

       "It is hoped that those who have yet to be vaccinated would frequently update their MySejahtera application as there is sufficient supply for the second dose of vaccine. We are expecting to reach 80% of the second dose vaccination target before Aug 31,” he said in an online media conference after chairing the exco meeting here today.

       Aminuddin said the government is also planning to close several vaccination centres (PPVs) in stages as the state has achieved 90.9% rate with 740,587 individuals having had the first dose while 73.4% (597,832) had completed their vaccination as of yesterday.

       He said the state government is also proposing to open walk-in PPVs in all districts specially for residents of the state simultaneously when the administering of the first dose achieved more than a 96% rate.

       In another development, he said all state assemblymen have completed two doses of Covid-19 vaccine apart from undergoing compulsory swab tests before being allowed to attend the State Legislative Assembly sitting on Sept 3.

       "The proceedings of the assembly would also be in compliance with the standard operating procedure (SOP) apart from taking up limited time compared to earlier sessions,” he said.

       In this regard, Aminuddin also advised the people to adhere to the stipulated SOP and not to get complacent in combating the spread of Covid-19 even though the state is moving to Phase Two of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) effective tomorrow.

       He said this is because juveniles aged 17 and below, who have not been vaccinated, are exposed to the dangers of the infection apart from Covid-19 variants such as the Delta variant which is 10 times more infectious. - Bernama