WITH COVID-19 cases breaching the dreaded 20,000 mark, health specialists have called upon the Government to do two things with great urgency.
“Please liberalise COVID-19 screening and accelerate the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK),” International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) (Kuantan Campus) Medical Faculty dean Prof Dr Jamalludin Ab Rahman told FocusM.
Citing examples on the screening process, Jamalludin said that in the UK, their government has ramped up screening and vaccination at the same time to deal with the pandemic crisis.
He added the UK Government had opened up screening centres on education premises to test the people frequently for free.
“Perhaps it may be hard to get free testing kits for Malaysians due to financial issues but the idea is to get people screened as frequently as possible.
“Right now, people are only testing themselves when they suffer from symptoms related to the coronavirus. We should get people to test themselves if not weekly, at least every fortnight,” he said.
Jamaluddin added that those got themselves fully vaccinated should also get themselves screened frequently due to the surge in Delta variant related infections.
“And remember that there are reports saying the Lambda variant can evade vaccine protection,” he cautioned.
On PICK’s speed, Jamaluddin acknowledged that while the mass vaccination programme was initially slow, the Government has ramped up so much that Malaysia is now recorded as one of the fastest nation in inoculating its citizens.
However, given the surge in Delta variant infections, the academic opined the Government has no choice but to speed up the vaccination rate.
As of now, Malaysia has vaccinated close to 30% of its population.
“If you look at the data from the UK and Israel, their speed in vaccination was key in lowering the number of infections. They vaccinated a lot of people within three months.
“But that was when the Beta variant was the fast-spreading mutation. Now we have Delta on our hands, which has changed the situation,” Jamalludin noted.
On the vaccines, he mentioned that Pfizer and Moderna holds the key in holding back severe symptoms of the Delta variant. However, Malaysia is in a unique situation where it has been administering various types of vaccines to the population.
No one is safe from COVID-19, including the fully vaccinated
Due to that, Jamalludin stressed that the Government may only see impactful reduction of COVID-19 cases only after 40% of the population gets vaccinated.
“I believe that after inoculating 40% of the population, we will see improvements in the number of infections within two to four weeks.
“However, I’m only talking in terms on reported COVID-19 cases, not those asymptomatic,” said the professor.
Jamalludin opined that expanding PICK’s reach was is key in lowering the number of cases, despite the number of people getting vaccinated.
“The rate is good but we need to expand its reach fast as hospitals, especially the ones in Klang Valley, are getting overwhelmed,” he added.
On that note, Jamalludin cautioned the public, especially employers, who believed in the false notion that a fully vaccinated individual is immune to COVID-19.
“Many employers feel that once their staff is vaccinated, they can attend office as usual. The vaccines only help to prevent the individual from suffering severe symptoms, not provide total immunity against COVID-19.
“And that is why I stress on testing. Evern if you are fully vaccinated, get yourself tested regularly. Please don’t forget to follow standard operating procedure (SOP) too.
“Don’t take COVID-19 lightly. Even if you suffer from flu, don’t go to public places and get yourself tested soon,” he stressed.
On related matter, Malaysian Public Health Physicians Association urged the Government to provide “walk in” services at all public healthcare clinics nationwide for anyone who wants to get screened.
He added that the Government should also lower prices of saliva-based COVID-19 test kits to assist the middle- and lower-income groups.
“Pleas provide free oximeters to patients under home-care and monitoring,” said its president Datuk Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar.
He concluded: “The Government should also provide enough transportation services to send COVID-19 patients to hospitals.
“This is in addition to helping community and non-governmental organisations (NGO) in community engagement empowerment and mobilisation, in terms of policy, guideline, funding and others.” – Aug 8, 2021.
