FEBRUARY 21 — Finally the long waited Covid-19 vaccine will be availabe in the country. The arrival of Covid-19 vaccine in our country will give new hope for Malaysian to protect themselves from Covid-19 virus infection.

As for the Covid-19 vaccine distribution, the Malaysian government has initated the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme which will start at the end of this month with the government targeting 80 per cent of the country’s population or 26.5 million individuals to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.

The national immunization program will to be conducted in three phases and that it would be given for free.

The first phase will involve some 500,000 health and non-health frontliners and is expected to end in April.

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The second phase will involve Covid-19 high-risk groups, namely senior citizens, vulnerable individuals with comorbidities and disabled persons. This is expected to go on from April to August, involving around 9.4 million people.Malaysia Airlines’ Airbus A330-300 aircraft will be carrying the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to the MasKargo Free Trade Zone of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). — Bernama pic
Malaysia Airlines’ Airbus A330-300 aircraft will be carrying the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to the MasKargo Free Trade Zone of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). — Bernama pic

The third phase of the programme will involve adults aged 18 and above, who will be given the jabs from May this year until February next year, running concurrently with the second phase. This phase is important to develop herd immunity and then to control the pandemic which has changed our life since it’s begun in early 2020. Even foreigner will also able to get access over the Covid-19 vaccine.

In line with Covid-19 vaccine distribution, the government is also plan to open up more than 600 vaccination centres located across the country which involves public and private health facilities, stadiums, convention centres, public halls and universities.

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Covid-19 is a new virus and it is highly contagious among human. Millions of people have been infected with such virus and more than two million peoples have died due to its infection which being reported around the world until today.

Sadly, there is no suitable medication which can be used by us to deal with this virus instantly. As such, we need to put our hope on vaccine development in order to protect us from infection with such virus.

In late 2020, a number of vaccines have been developed by few western countries and emergency authorization has been given by many governments for it’s used for their citizen. As of February 2021, ten vaccines are authorized by at least one national regulatory authority for public use. Two RNA vaccines namely the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccine. Three conventional inactivated vaccines namely BBIBP-CorV, Covaxin and CoronaVac.

Four viral vector vaccines namely Sputnik V, the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine, Convidicea and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. One peptide vaccine namely EpiVacCorona.

Similar like Malaysia, many countries have implemented phased distribution plans that prioritize those at highest risk of complications, such as the elderly, and those at high risk of exposure and transmission, such as healthcare workers.

Beyond doubt, it will never a long period of time to have everybody in the world to be properly vaccinated with such vaccine due to the size of world population which amounts to more than 7.8 billion peoples.

Same goes for Malaysia, it will take our government some period of time for more than 32 million Malaysian to be properly vaccinated with Covid-19 vaccine. Though the government has initiated the national immunization program which will be conducted in three phases it is important for the government to allow the frontliners and ordinary peoples in the country to be vaccinated first with Covid-19 vaccine.

Logically speaking our frontliners are the one who will be at high risk of infection as they the one who do most of the battle to curb the spread of Covid-19 virus in the country. Ordinary people should also be given top priority to get the Covid-19 vaccine as they need to carry on with their daily life after severe disruption due to the spread Covid-19 pandemic since early last year.

Nobody is safe until everybody is safe.

As such, the government must ensure everybody in the country able to receive Covid-9 vaccine. There cannot be any compromise on this matter. Any shortage over the supply of the Covid-19 vaccine must be deal immediately by the government.

The government must make sure all logistics and facilities which being prepared to carry out the National Covid-19 Immunisation program able to accommodate everyone in the country.

The public must able to receive Covid-19 vaccine in safe and comfortable manner. There cannot be any room for any carelessness or negligence in distributing Covid-19 vaccine to the people.

The relevant authorities must constantly monitor all the prepared logistics and facilities for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Program.

Any unnecessary disruption to the National Covid-19 Immunisation Program must be immediately identify and action must be taken to put an end to such unnecessary disruption.

It is vital for everybody to cooperate if we want to make the National Covid-19 Immunisation Program a success in our country.

* Dr Muzaffar Syah Mallow is an associate professor at the Faculty of Syariah and Laws, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM).

** This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.