More scientific briefings must be held to address vaccine hesitancy, says Muhyiddin

JOHOR BAHRU: To address issues of vaccine hesitancy among school children and parents, more briefing sessions providing scientific information and data from the Health Ministry should be organised by the authorities.

National Recovery Council (NRC) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (pic) said this was necessary as school principals and headmasters are having problems with parents who still refused to allow their children to be vaccinated.

He said this would certainly give rise to the risk of infection not only to pupils or students who have not been vaccinated, but also to teachers and pupils who had completed their vaccination and received the booster dose.

"As such, they have requested that the government make it compulsory for students to be vaccinated to solve this problem.

"As NRC chairman, I take note of all the matters which have been raised," he said in a Facebook post on Friday (March 4).

He said at present the government was not making Covid-19 vaccination mandatory.

Muhyiddin said on Friday he had the opportunity to meet with about 300 people in the education fraternity as well as Parents and Teachers Association leaders at the NRC Chairman's Dialogue Session with Educators in Kota Tinggi near here.

The former prime minister said at the event, he shared the actions taken by the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government during the Covid-19 pandemic, including ensuring access to vaccine supplies and launching the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.

He also listened to the views and proposals raised by the educators which among others touched on the problems faced in implementing online teaching and learning in schools, the challenges faced by teachers in the pandemic era as well as vaccination among students and parents.

"I am confident that the experience gained during the Covid-19 pandemic has taught teachers in the country to expect and embrace the unexpected," he said. - Bernama