PETALING JAYA: Children, who have been vaccinated for polio, are still at risk if they are living in a community where the vaccination rate is low.
Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye (pix) said the threat is due to exposure to children whose parents have refused to get them vaccinated or do not have access to vaccination.
This involves migrants and undocumented children, he told theSun yesterday.
“There is a risk of the polio virus being spread among undocumented children,” he said, citing the recent case of a three-month-old baby boy in Sabah with the same virus strain that is spreading in southern Philippines.
“The infected infant had only received the first dose (of four) of polio immunisation, making him under immunised.”
The Academy of Medicine Malaysia in a statement yesterday urged the government to move towards making vaccinations mandatory, adding that sanctions should be imposed for unreasonable non-compliance.
Professor Dr Rosmawati Mohamed from the academy noted that “vaccine hesitancy” has been trending as “anti-vaccination” activists have gained momentum in recent years.
This hampers the authorities’ efforts in safeguarding the population’s protection from preventable diseases through immunisation, she pointed out.
“We are concerned that the wilful misinformation and irresponsible behaviour of groups that are against childhood vaccinations affect not only their own children, but also other young Malaysians.
“We believe that more assertive measures are needed to ensure adequate vaccination rates in Malaysia, including a stronger counter-misinformation campaign against anti-vaccination campaigners, and consideration for mandatory vaccination programmes,” she said.
Rosmawati also urged relevant ministries to develop permanent solutions to Malaysia’s influx of immigrants and undocumented people, pointing out the larger scale health risk to the country if these groups were excluded from public health services.
“These durable solutions must consider the rights and duties of non-citizens, and Malaysia’s rights and duties under international laws and norms ... they can also begin with health and vaccine-preventable diseases,” she said.
