KUCHING: Mass vaccination should be done in full force by utilising all the available healthcare facilities, said Dr Liew Shan Fap.
The president of the Society of Private Medical Practitioners Sarawak (SPMPS) said currently, the government healthcare facilities are running at full capacity and are doing their best while private hospitals and clinics have not been fully utilised.
“We hope that all the ‘red tape’ for vaccination in private facilities should be minimised and all private clinics and hospitals should start administering the vaccination immediately.
“This method may improve vaccine acceptance as people are more confident with their regular doctors. They are more likely to go for vaccination if the service is provided by doctors they trust,” he said.
Dr Liew, who is also the vice-chairperson of the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA), further mentioned that many people are still waiting and deciding on what type of vaccines they should get.
“The main challenges of vaccine hesitancy and vaccination capacity are slowing down the inoculation process.
“There are people who are worried about the side effects of the vaccination. We need to emphasise that all of the vaccines that are approved by the Ministry of Health (MOH) are very safe.
“More importantly, Covid-19 vaccination far outweighs its inconveniences,” he said.
In a similar matter, he gave his full support to the change in vaccine policy made by the state government.
“The two important changes are that we should use all the available vaccines as the first dose on as many people as possible.
“Secondly, we should delay the second dose of the vaccine to benefit more people with the first dose. If we double the interval between first and second doses, the number of people covered with first dose vaccination will be doubled.
“The interval of doses for the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine could be increased from three weeks to four to 12 weeks whereby the second dose of Sinovac vaccine could be given at four weeks.” he said.
When asked about whether there are any side effects that would occur upon delaying the second dose, he said there will be no side effects.
“We know that two weeks after the first dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, the effectiveness of preventing Covid-19 infection is up to 80 percent.
“Meaning, the first dose will significantly reduce the severity of Covid-19 infection, which will also reduce death and decrease hospital admission up to 50 percent,” he added.
Dr Liew also revealed that the approach in delaying the second dosage will benefit more people as well as reduce the number of critically ill patients.
“The most important thing is to have a quick mass vaccination. We need to vaccinate as many people as possible to have a significant impact on the spread.
“As the cases have reached an alarming rate in Sarawak, we are at risk of facing a Covid-19 tsunami.
“Mass vaccination is the only way to have an impact in preventing this but we really need to do it very fast and aggressively,” he said.
