Action against anti-vaxxers mulled

Thumbs up: Muhyiddin chatting with a vaccine recipient during a visit to the Mitec PPV in Kuala Lumpur. — Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR: The government is considering taking legal action against anti-vaccine groups in the country if they are found to be inciting public opinion against the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin also said the government had asked the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee to study the possibility of making vaccinations compulsory for all if the number of those registered in the programme was still far below what was needed to achieve herd immunity.

“I hope we can speed up the vaccination process. What’s important now is to have no one saying ‘no’ to vaccination.

“We don’t want only half (of the Malaysian population) getting vaccinated and the other half not getting vaccinated as it will have consequences, ” he said when visiting the vaccination centre (PPV) at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (Mitec) here yesterday.

Also present were coordinating minister of the vaccination programme Khairy Jamaluddin and Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba.Muhyiddin said almost 13 million people in Malaysia had registered for vaccination so far, but the number was only 50% of the total number expected to ensure the success of the national immunisation programme.

He said the government would strive to expedite the vaccination process to achieve herd immunity faster, including by increasing the number of PPVs in urban and rural areas.“We also call on private clinics to help the government. There are about 8,000 private clinics in the country and if they are included, more people can get vaccinated, ” he said.

He also said there was no issue of the country being out of vaccines as more than 100% of the stocks secured last year had arrived.

Earlier, he was taken to visit the Mitec PPV, which opened on May 31, and will embark on “mega-scale” operations with an increased capacity of 8,000 recipients per day from June 7. — Bernama