HIGH-RISK groups, such as those above the age of 60 and people with co-morbidities, will benefit the most from the Covid-19 vaccine, said Sg Buloh Hospital infectious disease consultant Dr Suresh Kumar Chidambaram.

He told The Malaysian Insight that vaccinating these groups will also ensure they will not overwhelm the healthcare system if there is another wave of infections.

“For us, there are three types of vaccine effectiveness: vaccine to prevent hospitalisation, infection, even mild and prevent transmission.

“When it comes to vaccine effectiveness to prevent hospitalisation, meaning prevent severe disease, we know all the vaccines do this almost 100%.

“That’s why we are saying let’s vaccinate all those above 60. They are the ones who get admitted in intensive care units and they are the ones who get severely ill. They are the ones who overwhelmed our hospital system until we needed the movement-control order (MCO),” Suresh said.

He said younger Malaysians who suffer from diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart conditions are similar to the 60-year-olds with regard to the risk.

“The advantages (of vaccinating high-risk groups) are hospital won’t get that overwhelmed fast, we won’t run out of ventilators,” Suresh said.

“Our low-risk centres might get filled up but that is okay, we have lots of space. But there is a limit in how many ICU beds we can open. Vaccine is very useful for it. All the vaccines prevent hospitalisation.”

On March 18 last year, the government implemented the MCO to curb the spread of Covid-19 infections in the country. A second MCO was implemented in January this year when cases in the country surpassed 2,000 a day and the healthcare system was on the verge of buckling.

Currently, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Kelantan, Penang and Sarawak are still under the conditional MCO, while an interstate travel restriction is in force although Covid-19 cases in the country have been steadily hovering above the 1,000 mark.

Taking vaccination as a national call

Malaysia kicked off its nationwide Covid-19 immunisation programme on February 24, with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin taking the first jab.

Under the programme, the government intends to inoculate 26 million residents or 80% of the population.

Phase two of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme is set to begin on April 19, targeting more than nine million senior citizens and people with underlying health conditions.

As of March 28, about 7.2 million people have already registered on MySejahtera to be inoculated, nearly 30% of the adult population aged 18 and above.

Although vaccine take-up has been slow, Suresh said he is confident that more will sign up to be vaccinated.

“I think it has to be taken as a national call. I know as more and more people get vaccinated, more will join in, the fence sitters will join in.

“The advantage is millions are getting vaccinated outside the country. We are accumulating a lot of data and that knowledge is applied when we roll out our programme.

“There is a group benefit to it. You’re not only vaccinating for yourself, but also for your loved ones. We have to all come together as a nation and look at what Covid-19 has done to us. How much damage has been done to us in regards to the economy, in addition to health,” he said.

Concerns have been raised with regard to the side effects of the vaccines, but Suresh said the effects of not taking the vaccine outweigh the side effects from taking them.

“The high-risk groups benefit the most from vaccines, as the chances of them dying is extremely high. The risk of death is very much higher than the risk of side effects from the vaccine.”

With regard to reports that people have died after taking the vaccine, Suresh said it has to be taken under consideration that those in the high-risk group already have underlying diseases.

“When we hear rumours of people dying after taking the vaccine, we have to be very careful of the reasons.

“I think everybody has got a role to understand, differentiate between falsehood and truth and then advocate for vaccination,” he said.

Suresh is due to receive his second dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine this week.

“My hands were sore for 24 hours and then I felt feverish and tired, but by the next (third) day I was back to my usual self.” – April 6, 2021.