KJ: As govt wants to reopen all sectors safely, only fully vaxxed allowed access to facilities

PETALING JAYA: The reopening of all the social and economic sectors in the country must be done in a careful and safe manner, says Khairy Jamaluddin.

The Health Minister said that was the reason why the government announced that only those who were fully vaccinated would be allowed to use facilities in the social and economic sectors.

He said based on the latest developments of phases in the National Recovery Plan (NRP) and taking into account the dominance of the Delta variant, the Cabinet agreed that only fully vaccinated individuals would be allowed access to facilities regardless of the NRP phase.

Individuals are considered fully vaccinated 14 days after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer, Sinovac or AstraZeneca vaccines, or 28 days after the single-dose CanSino or Janssen vaccines.

Khairy said that individuals who cannot be vaccinated because of health reasons are required to submit health information that has been verified by a medical officer.

He said that the National Security Council (NSC) would announce the latest details of the SOP in the near future.

"The decision was made after taking into account the safety of the lives of the people, to strengthen the country's public health system, re-open the economic sector, and to ensure that government efforts to initiate the transition process to the endemic phase is done safely. We are not safe until everyone is safe,” he said in a statement on Friday (Oct 1).

He also emphasised that the success of bringing the country out of the pandemic did not only depend on the efforts and strategies of the government, but was also highly dependent on the level of community adherence to the standard operating procedures (SOP).

“If society takes it easy because of the relaxations, it is not impossible for the situation to become worse,” he said.

Khairy added that focus must also be given to community empowerment, so that they understood their own role to get the country out of the pandemic.

“You are in the frontline to protect your family and community from the spread of Covid-19,” he said, adding that there was a need to strengthen public health measures.

“The first line of defence against Covid-19 begins with yourself. The moment you experience symptoms, get tested and if you’re positive, isolate,” he added.