PAPAR: Only 56 per cent of the 167,300 Papar district population have received the second dose of the vaccines against Covid-19 as of three weeks ago.
Its district officer Hadzlan Jablee said this has put Papar as one of the low vaccinated districts in Sabah.
"We have tried our best to achieve 60 percent inoculation rate, so that this district will not be isolated and left behind compared to other districts," he said.
He attributed the low vaccination rate to the fear of being vaccinated by a handful of community members.
"This has led them to reject the government's vaccination programme," he said during the Papar district level Sepakat community programme held here yesterday.
To boost the vaccination rate, he urged all community leaders, village heads, village development and security committee chairmen and community development leaders to highlight the importance of vaccination to the anti-vaxxers.
Hadzlan said efforts to convince those who refuse the vaccines will be done via a house-to-house visit.
"My job is still unfinished even though the vaccination centres have been closed. However, vaccination is still being carried out by the Health Ministry via the health clinics.
"I will bring my team for house visits and explain to the people in detail, in order to get them to be vaccinated on the spot," he said.
Meanwhile, Sabah Information deputy director Harun Maddasa said the department would go to the ground to disseminate information on the vaccination programme.