Rural folk could be getting single-dose vaccines
The Health Ministry is looking at forming partnerships with various quarters to go into far-flung areas to help register the rural community for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP).
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said having such a partnership would get more of the rural people to be inoculated against the virus, especially in Sabah.
With a 3.9 million population in the state, he said only 355,000 people had registered for the vaccination programme.
He said using the MySejahtera app for registration had not been effective particularly with those in the interior, which prompted the authorities to opt for alternatives to get them into the NIP.
“The Health Ministry will rope in various quarters, including the police, army and People’s Volunteer Corps to access those in the interior areas,” he said after visiting Tuaran Hospital here yesterday.
Dr Noor Hisham said the vaccine to be used on rural folk would preferably be a single-dose rather than a double-dose vaccine.
He cited the CanSino and Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccines as possible options for those in the interior.
Earlier, Dr Noor Hisham visited the district’s hospital vaccination centre and another vaccination centre based at a private hospital.
In both visits, the Health director-general expressed satisfaction with the preparations being made by the private and public healthcare facilities in ensuring that the vaccination programme would be carried out smoothly.
On the AstraZeneca vaccine, Dr Noor Hisham said there was no reason for Malaysia to stop obtaining the vaccine, despite reports of blood clot formation and fatalities.
He described these incidents as rare and the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweighed the risks.
Dr Noor Hisham said this in response to news reports that Malaysia would deliberate on the
AstraZeneca vaccine following cases of blood clots and deaths in the United Kingdom.
The Special Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Committee will meet tomorrow to study the clinical data on the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the government had put in place back-up plans should the committee decide to defer the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.