Not the final vaccine consent form, says Health DG

 

The Health Ministry has confirmed that a version of the Covid-19 vaccination consent form that has gone viral on social media is not the final one that will be put into general practice.

"The Health Ministry would like to inform the public that the form that has been disseminated is not the final Covid-19 vaccination consent form that is to be used in (conjunction with) the administration of Covid-19 vaccine injections," said Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement today.

The form that is in circulation was erroneously uploaded to the Penang Health Department's website.

After it was reported in the Chinese and Malay media, the form was removed from the website and the Penang Health Department stated on its Facebook page that it was fake news prompting a negative reaction from many netizens.

This Health Ministry statement now confirms that the version uploaded was not the final version.

"For your information, the Covid-19 vaccine injection provides protection against Covid-19 infection as well as reducing the effects of a person getting the disease.

"Given that the injection of the Covid-19 vaccine is voluntary, then the consent form is a document to be given to vaccine recipients to confirm that they voluntarily agree to receive the vaccine," said Noor Hisham.

He added that consent forms are also used in other countries implementing the Covid-19 immunisation programme.

"The content of the consent form is to ensure that the recipient of the vaccine fully understands what has been read or explained by health professionals on the benefits and risks of vaccines.

"All vaccines that will enter Malaysia will be evaluated first in terms of quality, effectiveness and safety by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Division (NPRA)," he added.

The Health Ministry also confirmed that the final version of the consent form will be distributed to potential recipients of the vaccine in the near future, starting with the recipients for the first phase.

"In this regard, the community is reminded to not disseminate inaccurate information that may give rise to public anxiety," added Noor Hisham. - Mkini