THE Government must reinforce the country’s plans against the Omicron variant of COVID-19, said the Malaysian Health Coalition (MHC).
This is in response to concerns over the increasing number of COVID-19 cases and the Omicron wave, as well as Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s prediction that Malaysia may see an infectivity rate of 1.6 and daily caseload of 30,000 by March 2022 if no proper measures were imposed by the Government.
In urging the Government to accelerate the non-mandatory vaccination for children aged 5-11 years old, MHC noted that the interval between the two doses should be reduced to three weeks for children with comorbidities.
Currently the schedule comprises two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine administered eight weeks apart.
“We also expect a well-executed children’s vaccination programme to protect vulnerable children of all socio-economic classes. We must protect children, given that school clusters are increasing upon the reopening of schools in 2022.
“While there are side-effects of vaccinations and it appears to be rare, the Government must increase their risk communications efforts with parents to increase vaccine confidence.”
MHC further suggested that the Government amplify local COVID-19 genomic surveillance.
According to the GISAID database, Malaysia sequenced only 0.48% of all positive COVID-19 cases from Nov 2021 to January 2022 which MHC pointed out was less than the UK at 8.2% and Singapore at 2.1%.
GISAID is a global science initiative and primary source that provides open access to genomic data of influenza viruses and the coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We urge the Government to invest in outsourcing genomic surveillance to private laboratories and build meaningful collaborations among the Institute of Medical Research (IMR) and university laboratories,” MHC said.
This will boost whole genome sequencing (WGS) capacity to identify Omicron cases and other emerging variants, it added.
MHC also urged the Government to increase the availability of US Food and Drug Administration approved antiviral drugs, Nirmatrelvir and Molnupiravir, in Malaysia as part of managing COVID-19.
“This must be supported by clear clinical protocols to decide which doctor should prescribe and which patient should receive these expensive antiviral drugs,” the NGO opined.
“Increasing the availability of drugs must not discriminate against the poor or those in rural areas.
“We caution the Government to be mindful of the unintended consequences of widely available antiviral drugs, such as ignoring standard operating procedures (SOPs) or vaccinations.
“Therefore, crisis communication efforts must be in place to ensure the Rakyat remains vigilant.” — Feb 10, 2022
