Founder of H2GO, Dr. Rajiv Bhanot highlighted that vaccines are imperative to the recovery of the Covid-19 outbreak in Malaysia.
Malaysia received the second batch of 182,520 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on February 24 and the Sinovac vaccine on February 27 in bulk that will undergo the ‘fill and finish’ process by Pharmaniaga.
Vaccinations have been used over the years to eliminate illnesses and some have proven to be very effective against many viruses such as the Polio virus, Hepatitis B, Smallpox
“On an average, a vaccine takes up to 10 years to be researched, prepared and made available in the market. There is a five-year time frame spent in the discovery and research phase before the vaccine can undergo human testing.”
Various clinical trials are needed to be carried out over a period on individuals to determine the potential side effects and efficacy of the vaccine. Overall, vaccinations can take up to more than ten years to fully develop with an estimated cost of 500 million dollars,” Dr. Rajiv said.
80 percent of the Malaysian population is expected to be vaccinated within the next 12 months under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme with the Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MOSTI), Khairy Jamaluddin to spearhead the programme.
However, Dr. Rajiv also highlighted the rise of vaccine hesitants and vaccine refusals in the wake of the programme.
“The anti-vaccination groups in Malaysia are not as vocal and strong as they are in the West or in the States. The major concern expressed by most anti-vaccination groups is the potential side effects that we may experience upon receiving the vaccine,” he said.
In terms of educating the public, Dr. Rajiv expressed that, when people speak about the vaccines, it needs to be solely based on scientific facts rather than opinions by various parties.
If studies can be carried out to show that a person who has been vaccinated is going to be completely immune from the Covid-19 virus, that will encourage everyone to get vaccinated.
“Speaking of vaccinations in general, there has been very strong historic data to prove that vaccines are effective in preventing diseases, especially for new-borns and infants. As an example, polio was eliminated in the United States with vaccination, and continued use of the polio vaccine has kept the country polio-free.”
However, for newer vaccinations such as the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, we need to be transparent and clear by providing factual data to the people,” he added.
H2GO has been enabling 10,000 communities to access clean drinking water and focus has also been on educating the rural folk in the areas of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in the rise of the Covid-19 outbreak.
