KLANG: The MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccination should be reactivated in schools to prevent outbreaks, like in Melaka recently, says an expert.
The exercise was stopped after the decision to inoculate children at nine months old, followed by a booster at age one was made in 2016, said Immunise4Life programme technical committee chairman Prof Datuk Dr Zulkifli Ismail.
“The decision was to stop the school MMR dose in 2022 when the first cohort starts schooling.
“I have said this was a bad move as the school health MMR dose is still required due to a high failure rate in those given at age nine months due to the presence of maternal antibodies,’’ said Zulkifli when contacted.
Apparently, infants still carry their mother’s antibodies that were transferred to them at birth and inoculating too early will only result in the antibodies neutralising the vaccine.
He added that when the measles vaccine is administered on a child that is less than a year old, the older child or toddler dose must be retained.
On the recent measles outbreak in Taman Bukit Rambai, Taman Rambai Utama, Taman Rambai Section 2 and Kampung Gedung Lalang in Melaka, he said it may be due some children not sent for vaccination by their parents.
He added there was a need to study the profiles of the infected children and their immunisation status to detect what had caused the outbreak.
Zulkifli said parents must check the immunisation status of their children to ensure they have been inoculated accordingly and get the measles vaccine if they are located near the affected areas.
“Also, ensure that schools, kindergartens and childcare centres their children attend have strict policies on infectious diseases and practise proper cleanliness,” he added.
Zulkifli said the onus was also on the parents to listen to advice given by the Health Ministry as well as other reliable sources and to stop assuming that there was a link between the MMR vaccine and autism.
“It is a fabricated lie that caused the deaths of thousands of children in the United States because parents refused to vaccinate their children,’’ he added.
According to Zulkifli, parents refusing to vaccinate their children are influenced by the anti-vaccine movement started overseas and believe the stories from these groups as opposed to facts disseminated by the health authorities.
“Parents have to understand that measles is a vaccine preventable disease which can cause severe disease, suffering and death in unvaccinated children,’’ he said.
He said Malaysia is trying to achieve measles elimination status and to achieve this, there has to be a wide MMR coverage rate.
He said that countries that have achieved measles elimination status have high rates of MMR vaccination.
“We already have an efficient vaccination delivery system in place and we just need the public to accept vaccination as a preventive strategy for their families and children,’’ he added.
