KUALA LUMPUR – The country is expected to need a year to achieve herd immunity for the coronavirus through the National COVID-19 Immunisation Plan, one of the largest vaccination programmes in Malaysia.
Scientist Ts. Dr Ummirul Mukmimin Kahar from the Malaysian Genome Institute, National Institutes of Biotechnology Malaysia (NIBM) said that to achieve herd immunity, 80 per cent of the population needs to be vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine.
Malaysia is expected to receive the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech by the end of February with frontline staff being among early recipients of the vaccine.
“After February, the COVID-19 National Immunisation programme will become one of the largest vaccination exercise in Malaysia. The administration of the vaccine will be implemented in three phases and will run until February 2022,” he told Bernama in a special interview via Zoom here, today.
Dr Ummirul Mukminin said the vaccinations will be conducted at 600 vaccination centres which would be opened nationwide under the supervision of the Health Ministry (MOH), hospitals, and universities.
Different types of vaccines
In addition to Pfizer-BioNTECH, so far there are several types of COVID-19 vaccines that have been identified by the MOH through the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA), namely the vaccine produced by Astra Zeneca-Oxford, Sinovac Biotech, and Gamaleya Research Institute.
In the meantime, he said it was very important for the country to achieve group immunity because it not only protects those who have been vaccinated, but also the people around them.
“Herd immunity means that virus-borne infections will not be able to infect a group of people when most members of the community have the immunity to fight the actual virus.
“This is important to protect those at risk (people who are susceptible to infectious diseases) such as children, the elderly, and people with chronic diseases (cancer or HIV),” he said.
It also coincides with the aspirations of the National Immunisation Plan by the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee (JKJAV), namely Protect yourself, Protect All.
Biosensor to detect Covid-19
Dr Ummirul Mukminin, who was a panelist in the ‘Malaysia Petang Ini’ programme aired on Bernama TV said the Malaysian Genome Institute (MGI) was developing a biosensor strip using Crispr technology to detect COVID-19.
“This is one of the initiatives of the agency under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, it is a kind of kit, using strips (paper strips) on which a smear or liquid sample is placed and the results will be obtained in a short time,” he said.
He said MGI also serves as a sequencing point for the COVID-19 virus genome to obtain the latest genetic information and mutation of the virus in Malaysia.
Recently, he said, there are more than 30 genome viruses that have been uploaded to the COVID-19 virus genome database, namely GISAID.
“We also assist MOSTI in efforts to increase public awareness on the production and benefits of taking the COVID-19 vaccine,” he said.
The government always ensures that only the best vaccines that are safe, of good quality and effective will be given to the people and there is no compromise on the level of safety and effectiveness of the vaccine used.
He said the current study showed that the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines produced was 70 to 95 per cent, including against new mutated variants.
Different strains
Meanwhile in a related development, the genome sequencing analysis of COVID-19 shows that the variant infecting Sarawakians now is different from the one detected in March to April last year, said Sarawak Local Government and Housing Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian.
The initial infection was of the Wuhan strain but when the Stutong Cluster and Keranji Tabuan Cluster emerged last month, the genome sequencing analysis done by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) showed the new strain being similar to the ones found in Indonesian and the United Kingdom (UK).
As for the Pasai Cluster which had spread widely over many parts of Sarawak like wild fire, the strains were of peninsula origin and a little bit of the UK.
However, he said the UK strain was not of the particularly fast-spreading B117 strain of the COVID-19 virus.
“It is not the particular mutation of the UK strain. It keeps on mutating. And now in the UK, they are talking about the African strain.”
Dr Sim said this during a live talk via Zoom application hosted by Sibu Municipal Council chairman, Clarence Ting Ing Horh on his Facebook page.
The talk also featured Sarawak General Hospital’s (SGH) infectious disease specialist, Dr Chua Hock Hin and head of the police Crime Prevention and Community Safety Division, DSP Ariffin Bahar who touched on the COVID-19 situation in Sarawak including Sibu.
Clinical consequences not yet known
“We still do not know yet the clinical consequences of the new variants. That may explain why in Sarawak we noticed that 40 per cent of those infected showed symptoms whereas worldwide only 20 per cent had symptoms.
“We need scientists, universities and infectious disease experts to study in what way we are different,” Dr Sim said.
Dr Chua who was asked if vaccines would work on the mutated strains looking at news reports that the AstraZeneca vaccine is not effective against the South African strain, replied: “That is why we need more clinical studies to actually understand all these things.
“Only after the vaccine has been actually rolled out, we can see the real effects and if it really works or not.”
To another question, Dr Chua quashed an allegation that the government was using the people in Belaga as guinea pigs for the Pfizer and BioNTech’s Comirnaty vaccine when a dry run to send the vaccine to the district was held on Jan 29.
He said the dry run was aimed at testing the ability to keep the Comirnaty vaccine at -75 degrees Celsius throughout the delivery chain, starting from the producer’s location until it reached the selected medical facility.
Asked if the vaccine is safe for humans, he said: “In general, there is nothing to fear except those jabbed with it will experience some localised side effects such as headache or fever but that will go away in time.”
