Refusal to vaccinate may cause return of epidemics

There is a growing campaign among a group of parents in the social media advocating the refusal of vaccinations for children and this has led to concerns that it could lead to a resurgence of once-eradicated diseases in the foreseable future.

If this campaign, which appears to be driven by both religious and medical reasons, is not nipped in the bud, coupled with the growing influx of migrant workers in the country, scenarios of widespread outbreaks of highly contagious disease could turn into reality, the Penang government warned yesterday.

State agriculture, agrobased industries, rural development and health committee chairman Dr Afif Bahardin said the campaign had been gaining momentum in Malaysia lately with members of the group actively championing their cause in the social media, mainly on Facebook.

Dr Afif said findings had revealed that members of this group came from a high-educated background.

These “vaccine-hesitant” parents were trying to justify their choice of action on two grounds, he said.

Among the Muslim group, their main concern seemed to be whether the vaccines were made up of non-halal ingredients.

“There also seems to be a ridiculous belief that such vaccinations have adverse side effects and part of a Zionist conspiracy to establish a new world order,” he said at a press conference.

The other group's concern was solely medical-based. They believed too many innoculations would lead to adverse side effects.

According to medical information sourced from the Internet, one concern among vaccine-hesitant parents is that the vaccines could weaken the child's immune system and also cause them to develop autism.

He said medical research and findings had debunked these claims, while the National Fatwa Council had also issued an edict that child vaccinations was harus (permissable) and that the ingredients were halal.

He said that under Malaysia's National Immunisation Programme, children were innoculated mainly for measles, polio, tuberculosis, pertussis, diphteria and meningitis.

"The statistics also do not lie where effectiveness of these vaccinations is concerned," he said.

With a child vaccination rate of over 95 per cent, Malaysia has been able to reduce the number of cases of such diseases.

“We are even at par with the United Kingdom, and share the same success ratio where there are only three deaths from 1,000 child births for those who received vaccinations," he said.

"Immunisation is crucial to prevent endemics. But if nothing is done to address this matter, the emergence of these groups, and with more and more foreigners flooding the country, a new high-risk group who will be the source and carriers of these endemics will emerge.”

Dr Afif said parents could refuse to vaccinate through an indemnity form issued by the hospitals and healthcare providers.

He called on the Health Ministry to intervene and find a way to educate these vaccine-hesitant parents on the risks of opting out. “The ministry must come out with an official statement and address this.”

Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari, who was also present, said right-thinking parents should always base their decisions on judgement and facts.

“Obviously, here we are able to disprove the said groups' concerns. And obviously in this case, the pros for vaccinations far outweigh the cons and I think there should not be any doubts anymore," he said.

“The sooner we curb this problem, and with a little bit more information to the parents, the better it will be for the health of Malaysian children.”

- The Malay Mail