THE Malaysian Health Coalition (MHC) understands that we must re-open Malaysia as soon as possible and that we must provide some privileges for fully-vaccinated persons.
However, we urge the Government to reconsider the relaxed restrictions as announced by the Prime Minister on Aug 8.
We urge the following:
Postpone the relaxed restrictions to a time point defined by strict evidence
We understand that there is never a perfect time to relax restrictions for fully-vaccinated individuals. However, this decision is premature at this point in time for four main reasons.
- We are inadequately vaccinated: Only 27% of our resident population of all ages are fully vaccinated and this excludes undocumented migrants. Chile only relaxed restrictions after 50% coverage while Singapore is targeting to relax restrictions at 70% coverage.
- There is vaccine inequality in Malaysia: The 27% average hides a wide range – from 12% in Sabah to 59% in Labuan. Indeed, only five regions are above 27% (Labuan, Sarawak, Negeri Sembilan, Klang Valley and Perlis).
- Still seeing thousands of daily cases: Over-utilised intensive care units, general hospital wards, emergency departments and quarantine centres are still commonplace. These indices are currently not publicly available at a granular level, and must be used to guide the National Recovery Plan (NRP).
- Delta variant is likely the dominant variant in Malaysia (although genomic testing remains low): The Delta variant is more transmissible than the wild-type SARS-CoV-2 but current vaccines have limited effectiveness against Delta. Breakthrough infections in vaccinated persons may be as transmissible as unvaccinated persons.
Therefore, we believe that these relaxed restrictions are premature and can be dangerous. We propose postponing the relaxation to a time determined by a clear set of publicised criteria.
The scientific and public health criteria for relaxation must be built by health experts without interference. They can include “fully vaccinated rate ≥70% of the total population; total critical care bed occupancy rate for COVID-19 of ≤90%; total daily new cases ≤4000 with share of positive tests ≤5%” and other criteria.
These criteria must be publicised today so that any future decisions will be solely based on evidence.
Provide more clarity on relaxed rules
In any case, the Government must clarify the specifics of these relaxed restrictions because blanket vaccine privileges will create loopholes that will impede the NRP.
For example, the Government must answer questions like: What is the rationale to allow home quarantine for vaccinated travellers, how long is the quarantine, and how will we monitor? How do we close the loopholes that may allow “inter-state vacations on the pretext of visiting our children”?
Implement evidence-based policies for the NRP
We urge the Government to publicise tits evidence and projections as well as to explain its rationale for decisions. Otherwise, the rakyat will be left guessing if we are truly making policies based on evidence.
Markers of the NRP must be grounded in science and must be predictable. Although the pandemic is dynamic, changing the NRP markers, too, frequently and without good explanations may lead to concerns that decisions are political instead of evidence-based. – Aug 10, 2021
The Malaysian Health Coalition (MHC) is an apolitical coalition of Malaysian health professional societies, health professionals and citizens dedicated to improving the health of Malaysians, strengthening the Malaysian health system, and supporting Health in All Policies.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
