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PETALING JAYA: Despite seven million Malaysians still not having taken their Covid-19 booster shots, the medical fraternity believes that mandatory vaccination is not the way to go as it would turn the public further against it.
Universiti Malaya (UM) professor of epidemiology and public health Dr Sanjay Rampal said booster shots should remain voluntary and targeted at the elderly and immuno-compromised.
“The first booster will not stop the disease transmission. The severity of Covid-19 has also reduced with the Omicron variant compared with the Delta variant, which was rampant.
“Those who are younger and healthier may not opt to get a booster. This is acceptable as long as they are informed of the risks and benefits of getting a booster dose,” he told theSun when commenting on Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s advice to those who have not taken their booster shots to do so immediately.
Additionally, Sanjay believes compliance with preventive practices has been similar over the past few months.
“There is a portion of the public who will wear masks everywhere they go, and then there are those who only wear them when necessary.
“Transmissions will continue to be in phases, with shorter periods of increased transmission. These periods may be primarily due to susceptibility of the population rather than temporal changes in the preventive practices of the community,” he said.
When asked if a surge of Covid cases could cause another lockdown, he said it was very unlikely as transmission rates over the past few months had been very low compared with earlier this year.
“There is no need for further lockdowns as our national healthcare capacity should have enough resources to manage the current variants,” he said.
Similarly, UM head of social and preventive medicine Dr Victor Hoe disagreed that booster shots should be made mandatory.
“The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people who are immuno-compromised, those over the age of 50 and frontline workers, take the fourth dose or the second booster shot at least four months after the first booster dose.
“Studies have shown that people receiving the second booster dose had a 10-fold higher neutralising antibody titres (solution) against wild-type SARS-CoV-2 and the Delta and Omicron variants compared with participants who only received a single booster.
“There are minimal side effects for people taking the second booster shot. The main side-effect is pain at the injection site and fatigue,” he said.
On public reluctance to get boosted, he said it may be difficult to pinpoint the exact reasons people would not take their booster shots.
“Maybe they had a bad experience with the earlier vaccines, or they have heard that people who received boosters have bad side effects. The other reasons may be because the cases are coming down, and people consider booster shots unnecessary,” he said.
Khairy also urged Malaysians to wear a face mask when in enclosed or crowded areas, apart from practising the TRIIS (test, report, isolate, inform, seek) procedure.
When asked if Malaysians have become too relaxed about maintaining standard operating procedures, he said from his observation, most people still practise wearing masks in enclosed or crowded areas.
“However, they do not practise social distancing as we see crowds returning to shopping centres.
“The main reasons are that cases have been decreasing over the last couple of months, and it is not an issue for us to practise more relaxed SOP during those periods. However, with the cases starting to increase, and the presence of a more contagious variant, we should increase our vigilance again,” he added.
