KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 25): 2021 has proven to be another challenging year for the nation as the Covid-19 pandemic continued to rage, no thanks to its never-ending variants. Although Malaysia got off on the wrong foot in its vaccine roll-out, it managed to pull out a win in the end.

The government received criticism for its handling of the spike in cases and its vaccine procurement strategy going into 2021. The slow initial vaccine roll-out caused further frustration.

The large amount of misleading and false information about the virus, especially on social media, and anti-vaccine and ivermectin lobby groups also stymied progress in the fight against Covid-19. 

Nevertheless, after an initially slow roll-out, Malaysia’s vaccination programme made impressive progress to achieve its goal of fully vaccinating 90% of its adult population in October, which saw the government lifting the ban on interstate travel — which was implemented since mid-January — except for authorised purposes.

In November, the country was ranked 10th among countries with the highest percentage of the population full vaccinated against Covid-19 by The New York Times' CodeBlue vaccination tracker. Additionally, Malaysia managed to pull off the feat — in what would be the nation’s biggest vaccination programme in history — amid a political tussle that saw a change of government.

As the new year approaches, the threat of the Omicron variant to public health looms large across the globe. While many health experts say it's still too early to make a call about the severity of the strain, the government has begun offering booster shots since October to possibly prevent another wave of Covid-19 infections.

Looking back at 2021, aside from having to deal with the threat to the people’s health and livelihoods, political uncertainties also weighed heavily on sentiment. Stability returned with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Pakatan Harapan and the federal government represented by the country’s ninth Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

The surge in Covid-19 cases led to the imposition of lockdowns, which took a heavy toll on the economy and stalled the much-anticipated recovery.

As a result, government finances have been depleted due to the many stimulus packages rolled out to cushion the impact of the lockdowns as well as to pay for the vaccination programme.

Indeed, 2021 has been a roller coaster of a year for most Malaysians. What will 2022 hold for us?

Pick up a copy of The Edge Malaysia weekly's special double issue to find out.

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