COMMENT | The arrival of the Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine has brought with it a glimmer of hope to the Malaysian public in the ongoing fight against this pandemic.

For the record, on the eve of the fall of the Pakatan Harapan government on Feb 24, 2020, never did we imagine our cumulative cases will be fast approaching 300,000, with a death toll of over a thousand and an alarming number of brought-in-dead (BID) Covid-19 victims.

The National Vaccination Plan that prioritises front-liners as the first recipients of the vaccines is certainly the right step forward. In addition, teachers, especially those in the at-risk groups who will start their teaching responsibilities soon in primary schools as well as those living in nursing and elderly care homes, should also be in the first group of those to receive the vaccine.

Be that as it may, there are however pertinent issues that need to be immediately addressed in the vaccination rollout by both the government and relevant stakeholders.

Firstly, the government must surely, by now, appreciate the impact of risk communications. This basic domain of public health plays a critical role in any public health crisis as it allows the public to understand the policies and operations of the government.

Contradicting statements, to cite an example, of the administration of daily vaccine doses by the Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation and the Minister of Health, gives the impression that the cabinet ministers have poor coordination and agreement on basic issues such as the number of vaccines administered daily.

Besides providing fodder to vaccine hesitancy and ammunition to anti-vaccination groups, it would also negatively impact foreign investors’ confidence in our government’s capabilities. Investors are looking for clear signals of recovery and poor governing capabilities do not sit well with them.

Secondly, the policy of vaccination should by now be explicitly clear. When the Vaccine Coordinating Minister announced that everyone, including foreign workers and migrants, would be vaccinated, it was a great relief to many as it demonstrated the inclusivity of the government.

However, the unfortunate announcement, though later clarified and withdrawn, by the Health Ministry Director-General that it would not be necessary to vaccinate foreign workers, took everyone by surprise.

We need clarity of leadership that we can trust to be the voice that speaks truthfully about our vaccine program. The ministers and the technocrats need to get their act together in order to inspire trust and build confidence among the rakyat.

Countries like Israel and the UAE are ahead by leaps and bounds in their mass vaccination campaigns, whilst we have only licensed one vaccine, and a few others are still pending Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA).

Thirdly, we need to remind our rakyat that the Covid-19 vaccine is not the end-all and be-all, and surely not the silver bullet that would end the pandemic miraculously. It is disconcerting that the government is parading the vaccine arrival as though it is the 'saviour' of our pandemic. This would inevitably create a false sense of security for the general public.

They must know that the vaccines are part and parcel of a holistic program to mitigate, contain, and help us to exit the pandemic. The other components of the program, namely strict adherence to SOPs, masking, physical distancing, better coverage of testing and contact tracing, and meticulous attention to the "find, test, trace, isolate, and support" (FTTIS) system are critical success factors.

The rakyat should be kept well informed of the efficacy, safety, quality, and permissibility of the vaccines. This would help to improve vaccine confidence and acceptance, especially among vaccine-hesitant individuals.

Fourthly, we must always be realistic in detailing the vaccine rollout. We must not oversell the idea to the people that things will always be great and everything will go according to plan. We must anticipate and plan for contingencies, and unforeseen circumstances as witnessed in our very recent experience. Despite the MCO and emergency, we have failed to arrest the trajectory of the pandemic curve, let alone flatten the curve.

The third wave has been marred with poor adherence to good science. The absence of an integrated real-time digital application, failure to undertake effective contact tracing, blind adherence to a flawed one-size-fits-all testing regimen, the selective lowering of the quarantine period for ministers, and the bubble program with a neighbouring country exemplifies these failures.

The vaccine cannot be expected to compensate and cover for the failures of these basic public health responses. These areas must be put right if we want to enjoy the optimal power of the vaccine rollout.

Pakatan Harapan Covid-19 & Vaccination Task Force

  • Dzulkefly Ahmad, chairperson and Kuala Selangor MP
  • Dr Lee Boon Chye, Gopeng MP
  • Dr Kelvin Yii, Bandar Kuching MP
  • Dr Mohd Hatta Ramli, Lumut MP
  • Sim Tze Tzin, Bayan Baru MP
  • Ong Kian Ming, Bangi MP
  • Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud, Selangor state executive councillor for Health, Seri Serdang state assemblyperson
  • Norlela Ariffin, Penang state executive councillor for Health, Penanti state assemblyperson
  • Veerapan Supramaniam, Negeri Sembilan state executive councillor for Health, Repah state assemblyperson

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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