GEORGE TOWN, Dec 20 — All children below the age of five in Sabah including the undocumented and non-citizens will receive the oral polio vaccine (OPV) after a baby there contracted the disease this month, said Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye.

He said the ministry is now in discussions with the World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nation Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the Philippines government on how it can obtain a cheaper source of the vaccine for this mass immunisation exercise.

“We decided to use OPV for this mass vaccination as it is cheaper and easier to administer but it will take time to obtain the vaccines as it is not something that you order and get immediately,” he said during a press conference after opening an antimicrobial resistance seminar at Universiti Sains Malaysia here.

Dr Lee said all children between the ages of two and five years of age in the vicinity of the polio case have already been vaccinated.

“We are also carrying out vaccination at high-risk spots with a lot of undocumented children and our next step will be the mass vaccination of all children in Sabah,” he said.

He stressed that the government was already on high alert when Philippines reported a polio epidemic three months ago.

“Unfortunately, this case happened and so far, there is no second case and we hope to contain it,” he said, referring to the case of a three-month-old baby boy from Tuaran who was diagnosed with polio on December 8.

It was the first polio case in Malaysia since 1992. The country was declared polio free in 2000.

Dr Lee pointed out that the polio vaccination rate for Malaysian children in Sabah was 100 per cent but added this did not mean they were completely immune.

He explained that the first dose of the vaccination only provides 20 per cent protection, the second dose, given at three months, only 80 per cent protection and when all three doses are completed, the child has 99 per cent protection.

He said the three-month-old baby was also vaccinated.

“It was not easy to control as we have undocumented children and non-citizens who are not vaccinated and the question is: do we vaccinate them too?”

“On the one hand, they are not Malaysian citizens and on the other, they pose health risks to Malaysians,” he said.

He said this issue is not only about controlling the polio outbreak but the whole national immunisation programme and whether it should include undocumented children and non-citizens.

“We have a robust debate on whether to vaccinate them because it carries significant costs, not only a few million a year but tens of millions a year,” he said.

As for the vaccination rate in the country, Dr Lee said the rate exceeded 95 per cent nationally which is above the international requirements in preventing outbreaks.

He said the ministry is still discussing the need to make vaccination mandatory.