100 Terengganu teachers rejected Covid vaccines, says MB

Around 100 teachers in Terengganu have refused to get vaccinated against Covid-19, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar said today.

He said that the figure represented a tiny fraction of the total number of teachers employed in the state.

Following the opening ceremony of the 14th State Legislative Assembly’s Fourth Term at Wisma Darul Iman here, he told reporters that he is unaware of their justifications for not receiving vaccines and that he simply advised them to reconsider their decision for the benefit of all parties involved, including their families and pupils.

According to Ahmad Samsuri, the only option for the time being is to convince them to accept the vaccine since there are no regulations or laws in place to take action against them.

Before asked whether instructors who refuse immunization must face random Covid-19 screening tests when the school year begins, Ahmad Samsuri said, “It may be one way.” It is up to them whether they want to take the Covid-19 test every two weeks.

Dr Alias Razak, chairman of the State Local Government, Housing, Health and Environment Committee, said at a meeting that intensive care unit (ICU) bed occupancy is still high at more than 75%, which is one of the reasons Terengganu has not advanced to Phase Three of the National Recovery Plan (NRP).

He said that they need the ICU rate to be at 50% in order to proceed to Phase Three, but they are now at more over 75%. This is due to the fact that the average length of stay in the ICU for Covid-19 patients is 21 days, which is a lengthy period of time.

Although the daily rate of ICU admissions is low, the occupancy rate increased over time as the patient waited for 21 days, he added and anticipated that ICU bed utilization would decline in three weeks.

Meanwhile, Mohd Nurkhuzaini Ab Rahman, head of the State Entrepreneurship, Human Resource, Micro Industry and Hawker Affairs Committee, is currently stable after testing positive for Covid-19. He said that the Kota Putera assemblyman was hospitalized to Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital (HSNZ) last week after testing positive for Covid-19 while suffering from a fever, and is likely to be released shortly.