KUALA LUMPUR: The country is expected to need a year to achieve herd immunity through the National Covid-19 Immunisation Plan, one of the largest vaccination programmes in Malaysia.
Scientist Dr Ummirul Mukmimin Kahar from the Malaysian Genome Institute, National Institutes of Biotechnology Malaysia said that to achieve herd immunity, 80% of the population need to be vaccinated with the Covid-19 vaccine.
Malaysia is expected to receive the vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech by the end of February with frontline staff being among early recipients.
“After February, the immunisation programme will become one of the largest vaccination exercises in Malaysia. The administration of the vaccines will be carried out in three phases and will run until February 2022,” he told Bernama in a special interview via Zoom yesterday.
Ummirul said the vaccinations will be conducted at 600 vaccination centres nationwide under the supervision of the Health Ministry, hospitals, and universities.
In addition to Pfizer-BioNTech, so far there are several types of Covid-19 vaccines that have been identified by the ministry through the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency, namely the vaccine produced by Astra Zeneca-Oxford, Sinovac Biotech, and Gamaleya Research Institute.
He said it is very important for the country to achieve herd immunity because it not only protects those who have been vaccinated, but also people around them.
“Herd immunity means that virus-borne infections will not be able to infect a group of people when most members of the community have the immunity to fight the virus.
“This is important to protect those at risk (people who are susceptible to infectious diseases) such as children, the elderly, and people with chronic diseases.”
It also coincides with the aspirations of the National Immunisation Plan by the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee, namely “Protect yourself, Protect All”.
Ummirul, who was a panellist of the Malaysia Petang Ini programme aired on Bernama TV said the Malaysian Genome Institute (MGI) was developing a biosensor strip using Crispr technology to detect Covid-19.
“This is one of the initiatives of the agency under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation in the fight against Covid-19. It is a kind of kit, using strips (paper strips) on which a smear or liquid sample is placed and the results will be obtained in a short time.”
He said MGI also serves as a sequencing point for the Covid-19 virus genome to obtain the latest genetic information and mutation of the virus in Malaysia.
Recently, he said, there were more than 30 genome viruses uploaded to the Covid-19 virus genome database.
The government always ensures that only the best vaccines that are safe, of good quality and effective will be given to the people and there is no compromise on the level of safety and effectiveness of the vaccine used.
Meanwhile, he said the current study showed that the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccines produced was 70 to 95%, including against new mutated variants.
