The Edge launches ad campaign and Covid-19 vaccination tracker to get people to join race to build herd immunity

KUALA LUMPUR (June 3): The Edge Media Group has launched an ad campaign — If You Are Not Part of The Solution, You Will Be Part of The Problem —to help ramp up Covid-19 vaccination registrations.

Parallel to the campaign, The Edge will be tracking the number of vaccinations done nationally and state by state in all its digital and print platforms through its Race To Herd Immunity charts.

The Edge Media Group publisher and group chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Ho Kay Tat said: “When the pandemic broke out last March (last year), we helped raised RM25 million to buy equipment to support our hospitals and PPE (personal protective equipment) for healthcare workers. This effort will be coming to an end soon.”

He added: “The way forward now, as the government and medical experts have said, is to vaccinate as many people as fast as we can. Every Malaysian must help in this effort. This ad campaign in English and Bahasa Malaysia is our contribution.”To achieve herd immunity, the government wants to vaccinate 80% or 25 million of Malaysia’s 32 million population by year end.

As of yesterday, at least 3.2 million doses have been administered.

What concerns health authorities is that the number of people who have registered for vaccination so far is just under 12 million, which is less than 50% of the 25 million target.

Vaccine hesitancy will derail efforts to end the pandemic because herd immunity can’t be achieved.

Khairy Jamaluddin, the minister in charge of the vaccine roll-out, said on Tuesday that 12 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine will arrive in June, followed by 25 million doses of Pfizer between July and September.

He is worried there will be more vaccines than people to vaccinate from September unless enough people register.

Ho, meanwhile, said by having the vaccination tracker, The Edge hopes to rally Malaysians towards the “finishing line” to achieve herd immunity by year end.

Control of the pandemic may, however, come much earlier.

The experience of the US and UK has shown that the number of daily cases and deaths will start to fall when 25% of the population is vaccinated with at least one dose.

Based on the government’s roll-out plan, The Edge projects that Malaysia can vaccinate eight million people (25% of the total population) with at least one dose by end-July, and 11 million by early September — 35% of the total population or 45% of the targeted 25 million.

Source: TheEdgeMarkets