Questions now over jabs for 250,000 who have recovered

 

The long-awaited vaccination may not be needed for those who have recovered from severe cases of Covid-19 earlier. (AP pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: While there is a buzz about the arrival of the vaccine, there are also questions now about the 256,678 people who have recovered from the infections. Will they need vaccinations, too?

The health ministry (MOH) says it will assess the need for these patients to receive vaccination, said health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Noor Hisham said the antibodies generated by former patients who experienced level one to level three of the infection with mild or no symptoms, might not be sufficient to fight against the virus, therefore they might need to be vaccinated.

“If the infection was at level four or five, the generated antibodies would be more permanent and higher, but we will assess the matter,” he told Bernama here today.

Malaysia’s biggest vaccination exercise, known as the national Covid-19 vaccination programme, begins tomorrow, two days ahead of schedule.

Noor Hisham will be among the first individuals to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine after Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin at a ceremony to launch the programme.

Meanwhile, Noor Hisham said the programme launch would also mark the beginning of the end of the spread of the Covid-19 virus in the country, with protection from the inside via vaccination.

He said this would be in addition to the external protection through compliance with all preventive measures and control of public health as well as adherence to the standard operating procedures.

Muhyiddin is scheduled to receive the first vaccine injection at the Putrajaya district health office in Presint 11 at 3pm tomorrow. He will be followed by a health worker from the ministry, Noor Hisham, and another ministry staff member.

Recipients will be given two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, with the second dose administered 21 days after the first shot. - FMT