EARLIER, I wrote on “What’s going on with Malaysia’s Covid-19 booster shots?” (Malaysiakini, February 21, 2022). It was based on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Interim Statement on Booster Doses for Covid-19 Vaccination, where they concluded that introducing booster doses should be firmly evidence-driven.

WHO said there’s no evidence healthy children and adolescents need boosters and warned that blanket booster programmes could prolong the pandemic and increase inequity. Repeating booster doses of the original Covid vaccines is not a viable strategy against emerging variants and is unlikely to be appropriate or sustainable and booster campaigns won’t end the pandemic.

Mainstream news said research suggests that getting a booster can decrease risk of infection and severe illness but are the research at phases 1, 4 or 5?

Medical journal Jama reported protection should be long-lasting. Immune correlates of protections have not been established for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, although initial observations based on the Moderna vaccine suggest that neutralising antibodies can serve as a measure of protection and that approximately 68% of protection can be attributed to the antibody level. However, it is still in its infancy and individual antibody levels, as measured by myriad commercial assays, do not offer a useful indicator as to whether a booster dose is needed and their use outside of clinical research should be discouraged.

Why then is the Health Ministry (MOH) rushing for Sinovac recipients and seniors to get boosters – now extended to March 31?

It is said people who have a moderately or severely weakened immune system should get an additional primary shot and a booster shot but boosters don’t block infections for long. Repeated boosters of existing vaccines also probably offer only diminishing returns in terms of protection against future strains.

Are senior citizens the experimental rats for MOH and if people who have a moderately or severely weakened immune system should get boosted, why the blanket directive on all? This is not a matter of any booster jab is better than no booster jab.

Are booster shots now mandatory?

Also, why the rush for the proposed amendments to Act 342? Some clauses may need updating but existing laws are not enforced fairly and consistently. Do we need new laws? The amendments may cause even more unnecessary sufferings since stakeholders were not engaged in its drafting. Was there proper regulatory risk impact assessment to see the impact on the economy especially in this pandemic?

You hope in the next Parliament sitting to gain the trust of the public and get bipartisan support because public compliance is important. We understand it is a crisis and not tying one’s hands behind MOH’s back. Also, do not forget to ensure effective implementation and not to further burden the rakyat.

By the way, have the engagements started?

In March last year, health expert Dr Amar Singh HSS calculated, 30% of our population of 32 million are aged below 18 and not indicated for vaccination. Two to 3% of women are pregnant or breastfeeding and have generally deferred vaccination. At least 1% will be too ill and a modest 10% will choose not to vaccinate. It leaves us with only 55-60% of the population to be vaccinated.

In June last year, it was reported that Malaysia ordered enough vaccines to cover 109 of its population who qualify for inoculation, with the aim of achieving herd immunity. This was done after calculating the number of people above 18 years’ old and those suitable to receive the vaccination. In July, you said Malaysia has secured enough to cover over 130% of the entire population.

On August 16, 2021, the government procured 87.9 million doses, equivalent to about 2.7 doses per person, estimated at RM4.64 billion. There were also about five million doses – donations from the United States, Britain, Japan, China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Therefore, we had about 93 million doses of vaccines.

Didn’t MOH know about Amar’s calculation and keep increasing vaccine orders since June 2021? Did the government plan for booster shots for everyone since mid-2021 with 93 million doses?

Are the vaccine stocks nearing expiry and the rush to get Sinovac recipients boosted is to reduce the number of vaccines to be disposed of? I got my AstraZeneca booster shot on Saturday and the expiry date is April 2022. And WHO is aware of the short shelf life, especially AstraZeneca.

The rush has also unnecessarily influenced Selangor to require congregants to have the booster to be able to perform Friday prayers.

As of yesterday, 8.32am, the CovidNow portal showed 78.8% of the population got two doses. Total shots were 66.9 million but the sum total of all doses added up to 67.2 million – a difference of 207,230. Why the discrepancy?

We want MOH to succeed and focus very firmly on the fight against Covid-19 and not misspend your time handling suits and countersuits.

We trust there will be more transparency and hopefully, this will reduce speculations and you will get all the support. In the meantime, please respond.

What say you… – February 28, 2022.

* Saleh Mohammed reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.