Medical students in clinical training need vaccination

IN allowing students from tertiary institutions to return to their hometowns for Hari Raya despite the interstate travel ban, the Higher Education Ministry (MOHE) has shown that it cares. We hope this will not cause a spike in the number of new Covid-19 cases.

We wonder, however, whether the MOHE has thought of the medical students, especially those in their clinical years who participate in ward duties and come into direct contact with patients daily. Such students are the only ones who have not been vaccinated in the first phase that covered frontliners in clinical settings. They are at high risk of getting infected by patients or transmitting Covid-19 to patients, and the students’ parents as well as physicians in charge of students in the wards are worried about this.