Nation

Anti-vaxxers delaying national vaccination target

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has enough boosters for every adult in the country on top of sufficient vaccines for those who have yet to be inoculated, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

He said this while stressing that the administration of boosters will not affect vaccine supplies for those who had missed out on their first or second Covid-19 jabs.

When asked what was the stretch target for Malaysia to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, he said the question was one that had to be directed to anti-vaxxers.

"If you look at the statistics today, 98 per cent of the adult population have received the first dose so we are talking about two per cent more based on the Department of Statistics Malaysia's denominator.

"The question of when the population can be fully vaccinated should be addressed by anti-vaxxers, they will determine whether we will be fully vaccinated or not. Those who are willing to be vaccinated have mostly been vaccinated already.

"This target will depend on those who refuse to be vaccinated and on paper, that's about two per cent of the population," he said at the Malaysian Healthcare Tourism Council briefing on marketing Malaysia as a destination on Hepatitis C treatment.

He however said the ministry would continue to have outreach drives to vaccinate those who have not received their primary or second shots such as migrants.

So far 76.1 per cent of the population have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. This includes 95.3 per cent of adults and 80.4 per cent of adolescents.

Most Popular
Related Article
Says Stories