THE completion of phase one of the National Immunisation Programme, which involved immunising 500,000 frontliners, particularly healthcare workers, is a stepping stone in achieving herd immunity.
Inoculation of the subsequent 9.4 million senior citizens aged 60 and above and vulnerable groups with comorbidities and disability under phase 2 (April to August) as well as the 13.7 million aged 18 and above under phase 3 (May to February 2022) needs to be expedited if the Health Ministry’s target of 80% of the population to be vaccinated by February 2022 is to be achieved.
At the current vaccination rate (500,000 in about three months under phase 1), it would take almost 11.5 years to inoculate the remaining 23.1 million people under phases 2 and 3, which is way longer than the 11 months from now till February 2022 as stipulated.
With the occurrence of numerous clusters, persistence of new cases detected being in the four-digits and existence of several Covid-19 variants in our midst, as reported in “Ministry on alert over new variants” (The Star, April 15), the Health Ministry must accelerate the speed of vaccination to better protect the health of the rakyat as well as the economy.
However, many of those who have registered for vaccination are in the dark about when they would be getting their jabs, the vaccine they would be given, and the location of immunisation centres. Prior notice through the MySejahtera app would help the people, especially workers who might need to take leave to get vaccinated. The public could also be informed of the daily progress of the vaccination programme through the MySejahtera app.
There are reports that demand for vaccines far outstrips the supply worldwide. The Health Ministry must think out of box to tackle this problem as well as the types of vaccines to be used here.
Chile was recently reported as having one of the world’s best vaccination rates, but Covid-19 is surging there anyway. Chile recorded more than 9,000 cases on April 9, the first time since the pandemic began, despite achieving a national vaccination rate of 38%. As such, questions have been raised about the efficacy of the vaccine used widely in Chile, CoronaVac, which is manufactured by Sinovac, a Chinese firm. However, other factors could have also contributed to the currently high infection rate in Chile, including the more virulent strains of Covid-19.
Vaccination of migrant workers is also vital to achieve herd immunity.
Time is of the essence and achieving the 80% inoculation level is our only path back to normalcy. Unless and until we achieve herd immunity, the virus will continue to constrain our ability to get back to the life we had before Covid-19 was declared a pandemic.
TING LIAN LEE
Johor Baru
