KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 24): Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the World Health Organization (WHO) must make its stand clear on the practice of vaccine discrimination by certain countries.
In a press conference Friday, the minister said these countries only allow travellers who have received certain brands of vaccines to be exempted from being tested for Covid-19 prior to departure, upon arrival and after undergoing quarantine.
“This should not be happening. It is important to understand that vaccines protect individuals from the risk of getting more severe infections, as well as reduce the symptoms of the disease,” he said, adding that any decision on the matter should be made based on a country's public health measures and not on the type of vaccine used.
“This will defeat the purpose of having the vaccine and administering them to the population. Discriminating the type of vaccine will only discourage innovation in manufacturing vaccines,” he added.
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Khairy also pointed out that these vaccines have been listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) under its emergency use listing, and therefore countries should recognise them.
He also touched on developments regarding the requirement for a third vaccine dose and booster doses, which the country plans to administer starting next month, with priority to be given to high-risk groups.
He said the recommendations regarding the matter will be tabled at the next Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) meeting, following which the clinical guidelines will be finalised.
Based on information from the WHO, Khairy said no country has reached herd immunity yet, adding that the organisation had previously stated that the main goal of Covid-19 vaccination is to reduce the number of cases and deaths.
This is why the government is aiming to vaccinate as many people in Malaysia as possible as opposed to vying for herd immunity, he said, adding this would allow the nation to control the spread of Covid-19 and reduce the number of ICU admissions as well as deaths, in order for Malaysia to enter the endemic phase safely.