KOTA KINABALU, May 21 — Sabah received a donation offer today for the yet-to-be approved Sinopharm Covid -19 vaccine, said Chief Minister Datuk  Hajiji Noor.

He said investment holding company Kanger International Bhd made the offer today, along with a RM200,000 donation for the state’s fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kanger is the Malaysian distributor for the Sinopharm vaccine.

"However, the state government will only take up the offer once the vaccine has been given the green light from the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) of the Health Ministry,” said Hajiji according to a statement issued today.

He thanked the firm for its donation and said it would go a long way in fighting the pandemic here.

Handing over the contribution to Hajiji was Kanger executive director Steven Kuah.

"Hopefully, the money will be able to lessen the burden of the people of Sabah,” said Kuah.

Also present were state Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun, State Secretary Datuk Seri Sr Safar Untong and State Health Director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi.

On a related matter, Hajiji said state residents have gone steadily for their vaccination despite baseless claims about Covid-19 vaccines.

So far, Sabah has received 223,470 vaccine doses under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme as part of its second phase.

However, as of May 19, only 17 per cent or 498,392 of Sabah’s population have registered for the Covid-19 vaccination programme.

Cumulatively, Sabah has administered 156,275 doses of the vaccines. These include 59,904 people who have completed both doses and 96,371 who have received the first.

Hajiji reiterated his call for Sabahans to register for the vaccines through the MySejahtera application.

Twenty private clinics throughout the state would also be turned into a vaccination centre soon, in addition to 24 hospitals, 28 government clinics and 24 non-Health Ministry facilities.