KUALA LUMPUR: Experts are divided over the Health Ministry's idea of making Covid-19 boosters a precondition for an individual to be considered fully vaccinated.
While some believe such a move is necessary to ensure that the general population is vaccinated against Covid-19, others reckon it is too early to do so given that inoculation itself has yet to be made mandatory.
Former Malaysian Medical Association president Professor Datuk Dr N.K.S. Tharmaseelan said the move, should it materialise, was a welcome one as it was for the greater good.
Dr Tharmaseelan said booster jabs were the best to protect everyone from severe Covid-19 complications.
"The Covid 19 virus is constantly mutating into more virulent forms. Scientists are doing their best with available facilities and improving the vaccines to fight this disease.
"As the virus mutates, boosters are needed to increase one's immunity level correspondingly."
He noted that while the majority of the population were almost fully vaccinated, the mutating virus and waning immunity levels were a cause for concern.
"Until we find the 'perfect vaccine', we need to get boosters, possibly even regularly.
"We have no other alternative. If the people do not care and pose a risk to others by becoming a potential cause of the virus to spread, what the Health Ministry is proposing needs to be welcomed by all for the safety and health of the nation."
Dr Tharmaseelan said the need for booster shots did not negate the effectiveness of the vaccines.
"The protective effect of the vaccine wanes after some time, just like any other vaccine,but it does not mean the vaccine is ineffective. Although you can still get infected post-vaccination, it generally prevents serious harm.
"Thus, boosting your immunity level is important. It is a practical and logical solution. We cannot expect lifelong immunity or protection by taking just the vaccine.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, in an interview with the New Straits Times on Monday, said the government may consider making Covid-19 booster shots a precondition for one to be classified as fully vaccinated.
Malaysian Public Health Physicians Association president Datuk Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar said the government should not proceed with the proposal as the vaccination had not been made mandatory.
The authorities, he said, should instead focus on the severe cases and hospital admissions, and continue educating the public on the purpose and effects of booster shots. The authorities must convince the public by using data to demonstrate the comparative risks between the unvaccinated, fully vaccinated and those with booster doses, he added.
He believed pressing ahead with the move would also elicit louder calls from the "anti-vaxx" community, which could sway some fully vaccinated people into becoming booster-hesitant.
Epidemiologist Dr Malina Osman said the Covid-19 booster shot should be given only to the specific groups that qualified for them.
However, she said, if the government wanted to make the booster a precondition for being fully vaccinated, it had to make a decision quickly.
"This is a critical issue that we need to decide on quickly. We have to understand the escalating cost of treatment for all severe Covid-19 cases compared with the cost of vaccines."
Asked if those who have completed two doses of the Covid-19 vaccines were considered "at risk", Dr Malina said: "This would be applicable to those in high-risk groups."
She shared Dr Zainal's opinion that it would be even difficult now to persuade the anti-vaxxers to come forward.
"The resistance is relatively tougher compared with the campaign for the first two doses."
The government is giving booster shots to frontliners, adults aged 40 years and above, adults aged 18 years and above with comorbidities, individuals at long-term care facilities, including staff and residents, pregnant mothers and those who need to travel abroad.