KOTA KINABALU: People are getting complacent following their vaccination and booster shots against Covid-19 in Sabah, says state Health director Datuk Dr Rose Nani Mudin.

       She said with the emergence of new variants, namely Omicron, it is vital that full compliance of standard operating procedures (SOP) is adhered to, more so with the opening up of so many economic and social sectors.

       “It doesn’t matter what the new variants are because the transmission methods are similar, so we must make sure we comply with SOP, stricter than before,” she said.

       Dr Rose said having completed full vaccination doses and getting the booster shot does not make one resistant to the virus.

       She said it does help bring the severity of the symptoms down if one contracts Covid-19, but it doesn’t stop the virus from being spread.

       She said though no new cases involving the Omicron variant have been detected so far in Sabah, preparations to face any eventualities or outbreak in cases have been made.

       “We are prepared to face case hikes, and are concerned about this possibility,” Dr Rose added.

       She said this during a press conference following the closure of Sabah’s largest vaccination centre at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) here on Tuesday (Nov 30).

       On this, she said the SICC vaccination centre which was opened up on July 28 this year, had seen a total of 300,000 vaccinated as of Nov 30.

       “Statewide, we have successfully jabbed a total of 595,483 non-Malaysians including the undocumented as of Oct 30,” Dr Rose added.