PUTRAJAYA: It is an offence under the Child Act 2001 for parents to place a child's health at risk by choosing not to vaccinate their children.
The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, in a statement today, said denying children their vaccinations could be deemed as a form of neglect, as it is putting the child in harm's way.
"If the parents' refusal to immunise their children is the reason for triggering an outbreak of disease which then endangers their child, it can be characterised as abuse," it said in a statement today.
The ministry warned parents who reject vaccinations that they could face a fine of not more than RM20,000 or a jail term not exceeding 10 years or both as stipulated under Section 31 of the Child Act.
Malaysia was reported to have recorded 13 confirmed cases of Diphtheria so far, with five fatalities.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah had said that the two latest cases in Sabah involved a Malaysian child who had no history of diphtheria immunisation.
The child was diagnosed with the disease on June 23 and died of the illness on Monday, he added.
The second case, he said, involved a non-Malaysian child aged five who was diagnosed with diphtheria on Tuesday. The child is currently being treated at the isolation ward and is reportedly stable.