YOURSAY | Take heed, the vaccinated can still get infected

 

YOURSAY | 'Vaccines can protect you, but up to a certain degree.'

Covid-19 (Aug 26): Record 24,599 cases and 393 deaths

ApaKhabar: Selangor has highest Covid-19 new infections. Yet some Selangor residents’ actions do not match this fact.

I was ordering takeaway at a mamak restaurant in a Selangor urban area. There were dine-in patrons. As I sat waiting for my takeaway, I noticed two patrons (wearing factory uniforms) busy wiping their noses at a table.

Some patrons did not practice social distancing and chatted mask-less at close quarters. Kerajaan Gagal or not, the rakyat must play their roles in mitigating this pandemic.

Even if Malaysia immunises enough people (adults and children), new mutations or variants will appear because other nations have not sufficiently vaccinated their population.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has stressed that no one is safe until everyone is safe.

Vaccinations will reduce the severity of the current Covid variants, but new variants may decrease the efficacy of existing vaccines.

Amadeus: Vaccines protect you, but up to a certain degree. Be it Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinovac. Moderna isn’t being used in Malaysia. And Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is for people who have severe health issues.

Scientific data has shown you can still be infected, minus the severity of symptoms - regardless of which vaccines you take.

Everyone has to play a part in the fight against Covid, including those vaccinated. Especially the wearing of the mask properly - some Malaysians are still covering just their mouth - and of course, practising social distancing.

My friend passed away last week and he was vaccinated. And it wasn't Sinovac.

Anonymous_47029368: Indeed, those fully vaccinated can still get infected and infect all those unvaccinated with severe consequences for them.

As long as we have the unvaccinated among us, including young adults or even kids, and the numbers keep climbing, it is better to maintain SOP (standard operating procedure) and avoid going out unnecessarily, even if fully vaccinated.

Velarooks: This is due to the Delta variant. Vaccinations only help our immune system respond to the virus. But it doesn't make us bulletproof.

And it doesn't help that the Delta variant is something like eight times more infectious compared to the original Alpha variant.

BlueShark1548: Herd immunity was a story told to us by our Health director-general (DG) at the beginning of the crisis and repeated by politicians and the minister in charge of vaccination, Khairy Jamaluddin.

The CEO of Pfizer now said that herd immunity cannot stop the Delta and other mutated variants. WHO also said the same thing but our politicians continue to misinform the public.

Most people think that they are safe from the virus after their second jab, especially when the government is relaxing restrictions.

We also face the problem of vaccines becoming weak after six months and thus need a booster dose. To make it a perfect storm, we are re-opening schools!

Can our healthcare system cope with another wave?

BusinessFirst: As expected, the fall in numbers earlier was due to reduced testing over the weekend.

Despite the so-called high vaccination rate, the numbers are still stubbornly high in Sarawak and Selangor.

I thought Sarawak said that they hope to reach herd immunity through vaccination by August. Now we are about to enter September.

I was always puzzled how this could be achieved when smaller, urbanised and efficient Singapore, which started earlier, cannot even reach that target.

Since Independence, if you combined all the deaths in the communist emergency/insurrection, the Confrontation, May 1969 riots, plane crashes/missing disasters, Highland Towers collapse, I don’t think we even reach a third of the 16,000 who died from Covid.

Over 16,000 people have died, and still, this government seems more interested in political positions and power?

YellowSam: We cannot open the economy up just based on the vaccination rate alone. Even with 80 percent of Klang Valley residents vaccinated, we have three to five million undocumented foreign workers. So, we are actually way below the threshold.

Other countries such as Taiwan and Singapore can control and open their economies as the numbers of those vaccinated are accurate. Whereas we are still reporting record highs on alternate days.

I am afraid that there will be many more cases and deaths if the rakyat continue to eat-in and hold gatherings.

Margaret: India's daily infection and death rates are twice Malaysia's. However, if Malaysia has India's population, today's infection rate would be 1,000,000 and deaths would be 16,000. Can this get any worse?

NoobMaster69: Malaysia is in this sorry state because a few people decided to choose the wrong people to lead the country.

In GE14, the people made the right decision choosing those who can make the country better, but they had failed the people, and in the next election let us all use the same power to get rid of those who betray the people’s vote.

Kenneth_2585: In the latest Bloomberg’s ranking of Covid-19 handling, Malaysia is ranked 53rd out of 53 countries surveyed! Congratulations to our government and politicians, they are bringing this country to hell. - Mkini