THE HEALTH | SEPTEMBER , 2021

BY KHIRTINI K KUMARAN

However , as more vaccines were coming in , the NIP ramped up its vaccination drive . Malaysia became one of the nations with the highest vaccination rates .

To update the progress and the strategies implemented by the NIP , The Health spoke with Datuk Dr Hishamshah Mohd Ibrahim , Deputy Director-General ( Research & Technical Support ) of the Ministry of Health ( MoH ).

Vaccination updates

“ We got minimal amounts of vaccines in February when we started the programme . We ramped up the delivery , and the vaccine manufacturers provided us with the numbers . Our vaccination rate was at one point one of the highest in the world ,” said Dr Hishamshah .

“ It ’ s not a matter of capacity . It ’ s just a matter of supply . And on average in August , we exceeded 470,000 doses per day .”

For the whole population of Malaysia , as of Aug 24 , 41.6 per cent have completed two doses of vaccine , and 57.1 per cent have received at least one dose .

“ The States with high vaccination rates and highest percentage of adult population completing two doses of are Selangor ( 86 per cent ), Negeri Sembilan ( 73.4 per cent ), Labuan ( 92.6 per cent ) and Sarawak ( 85.7 per cent ).

“ We hope that by October , we can possibly have 80 per cent of the Malaysian adult population fully vaccinated .”

Disparity in vaccine supply

Based on the updates , the vaccination drive is clearly more active in some States than the rest , and vaccine supply seems to be concentrated in the Klang Valley .

“ There is vaccine disparity , and this goes by the strategy that we have .

“ When we had a surge of cases in the Klang Valley , it overwhelmed the health services . So that ’ s why we had the operation surge capacity in the Klang Valley .

“ Likewise , when we look at the Federal Territory of Labuan , where we started to vaccinate on a big scale early on . It was because we ’ ve got large numbers of cases and the Delta strain coming into the port of Labuan .

“ In Sarawak , we increased the vaccination rate in anticipation of possible State elections ,” added Dr Hishamshah .

The strategy worked , he said , as there were reduced admissions in the hospitals in Labuan and Sarawak and the number of people who need to be ventilated for Covid-19 .

“ And we also see this trend in the Klang Valley now . As the vaccination rate increases , the number of serious cases decreases .” He also updated that Malaysia had received the single-dose vaccine , CanSino . These will be distributed by the mobile team to remote areas and pockets of Orang Asli settlements .

“ To begin with , about 180,000 doses were sent to Sabah and several thousand doses to Perak , Pahang and Kelantan .

“ With the arrival of the CanSino singleshot vaccine , we will be able to reach these remote groups in a more efficient manner .”

Vaccination for children

Initially , the vaccination was reserved for adults because children were not as high risk as adults to get the severe forms of Covid-19 .

Malaysia is now set to vaccinate all

We got minimal amounts of vaccines in February when we started the programme . We ramped up the delivery , and the vaccine manufacturers provided us with the numbers . Our vaccination rate was at one point one of the highest in the world .” – Dr Hishamshah

children aged between 12 and 17 from Sept 15 . As at Aug 30 , 63.6 per cent of its adult population have already completed two doses and 83.8 per cent have received the first dose .

Based on the guidelines by MoH , priority is given to at-risk children with underlying medical conditions and those living with adults who are also at high risk .

“ This is because those in the high-risk groups are predisposed to have a more severe form of Covid-19 .”

After that , it will be followed by healthy adolescents in that age group from older to younger .

As for the brand of vaccine , Dr Hishamshah said : “ Our National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency ( NPRA ) has only approved the vaccines by Pfizer- BioNTech to be used for children .”

Pfizer is the only vaccine with safety and efficacy data available for children . It was also the first vaccine to receive emergency use authorisation ( EUA ) by the FDA early on . It has since received full FDA approval .

Herd immunity

With the highly contagious Covid-19 Delta virus , Dr Hishamshah stressed that it was more vital for the country to have its population collectively having immunity against the virus .

“ Once we have a pretty sizable number of the population having immunity to the Covid-19 , either from vaccination or having recovered from Covid-19 , that is when we will achieve herd immunity .

“ It is then the chances of this virus transmitting in the community can be controlled .

“ However , in terms of reaching the percentage needed for herd immunity , we seem to be chasing a moving goalpost because the virus keeps changing in character .

“ Epidemiologists are saying we need 90 per cent of the population immunised compared to the previous 70 per cent .

“ This is because the Delta variant has double the infectivity rate compared to the original Wuhan strain and the subsequent variants . It is almost like a different virus .”

He also shared that both recovered Covid-19 patients and vaccinated individuals can get infected with the Delta variant .

“ We call this a breakthrough infection , which is when you are infected with the Delta variant after getting infected with the original strain .

“ Those who are vaccinated can also get affected by the Delta strain , although the severity is less .”

Vaccine acceptance

When asked about the anti-vaccine movement in Malaysia , Dr Hishamshah replied : “ The majority of people are pretty open to vaccination . And that has been proven from our experience with our childhood vaccination programme .

“ The number of anti-vaxxers is relatively quite small . It is just that they are media savvy and can make some loud noises . They are using a lot of these alternative media and social media to present their case .

According to Dr Hishamshah , some of the efforts taken to convince anti-vaxxers include ;

• providing scientific evidence data on the safety and efficacy of each vaccine ;

• using social media to educate on the statistics of ICU cases and brought-in-dead ( BID ) cases which are high among nonvaccinated people ; and

• encouraging pro-vaccine social media influencers to counter the anti-vaxxers group .

“ Eventually , the anti-vaxxers do come to their senses and even start influencing others to get vaccinated .

He added that the government was currently conducting some research on the anti-vaccine group .

“ Based on the analysis , the government will find a way to make it mandatory under the existing legal provisions if the percentage of those who refuse vaccination on non-medical grounds is big .”

“ With regards to the halal status of the vaccine , the National Fatwa Council has ruled the vaccines as permissible , and under the circumstances , it may be mandatory . This ruling is adopted by all the State Mufti offices .” — The Health