500,000 have received first jabs under Phase 1

PETALING JAYA: Medical experts believe Malaysia is on track to meet the targeted administration of 500,000 Covid-19 vaccinne shots under the first phase of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP).

The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) told theSun that the first phase is expected to conclude in April.

“The sudden decision to give doses to politicians could have delayed the initial part. Phase two will run smoothly if private facilities are also co-opted,” said MMA president Prof Datuk Dr M. Subramaniam said yesterday.

It has also been reported that of the 500,000 vaccinated, only 100,000 have got the second dose of the vaccine.

Subramaniam said this is expected as there should be a three-week gap between doses.

“Low registrations are also contributing to the delay as well as those in the category who have registered but have not received notification on the date that they will be vaccinated,” he added.

Epidemiologist Dr Malina Osman of Universiti Putra Malaysia said Malaysia is on track, and as scheduled, all 500,000 frontliners will have received their second dose of the vaccine by April 20.

She added that if we are ahead of schedule, the second phase should begin earlier than the previously announced date of commencement.

“We hope that phase two will be initiated soon, and can be implemented smoothly as scheduled,” she said.

Prof Sanjay Rampal of Universiti Malaya’s Epidemiology and Public Health Faculty told theSun that based on statistics, we are on track to complete phase one as scheduled.

He added that vaccination centres have also had time to streamline their processes to become more efficient.

Sanjay, however, cautioned that obstacles would be inevitable in phase two as daily vaccination rates would be scaled up by more than 11 times compared with phase one.

“Factors such as vaccine delivery, efficient scaling up of vaccine administration, getting better access to targeted populations, overcoming the digital divide, and improving vaccine literacy may influence the likelihood of completing phase 2 as scheduled,” he said.

Virologist Prof Dr Sandy Loh of Universiti Nottingham Malaysia said the government is taking great efforts to assist in the vaccination process.

This includes the setting up of more vaccination centres and the engagement of private hospitals and clinics.

“The shortage of vaccines and distribution difficulties in some states may cause the vaccination (exercise) not to progress as smoothly as we expected,” said Loh.

She added that the issue of vaccine hesitancy must be dealt with as the registration rate for vaccinations on the MySejahtera app is still low.

“The vaccination promotion campaign needs to be strengthened to ensure that there are no delays.”

Loh believes that opposition to vaccines can pose a real challenge to herd immunity if the proportion of vaccinated people in a community falls below the herd immunity threshold, which is at least 70% of the total population.

“Moreover, we are now competing with the potential emerging virus variants, which could be more transmissible.

“There is fear that the current vaccines would not be as effective in curbing the new variants of the virus.”

Source: TheSunDaily