Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Khairy Jamaluddin, has held a panel discussion on Clubhouse to talk about COVID-19 vaccines and the vaccination plan in Malaysia. Prior to the session, he has agreed to be on the record for all media outlets.
Since Clubhouse is currently an invite-only platform that’s limited to iOS devices, we are sharing a replay of the 2 hour informative discussion for everyone’s convenience.
The panel discussion was moderated by Dr Helmy Haja Mydin (Pulmonologist & Head of the Lung Centre at Pantai Hospital). Also on the panel is Dr Jemilah Mahmood (Public Health Special Advisor to the PM), Dr Kalaiarasu Peariasamy (Director of Institute of Clinical Research), Dr Giri Rajahram (Infectious Diseases Physician) and Dr Akhmal Yusof (CEO of Clinical Research Malaysia).
The discussion touches on a variety of concerns including safety, efficacy of different vaccines, rollout timeline, educational challenges and logistics of delivering vaccines.
At one point, the Clubhouse discussion had peaked at around 3.2K users and the panel had accepted several questions from the audience. Khairy said he invited those from the working committee and frontline doctors onto the panel to provide their expert views and to reassure the public that the policies are being decided based on sound and scientific advice from the experts.
He iterated that it’s not just about vaccinating for yourself but you are taking the vaccination for others. Nobody is safe until everyone is safe. When you take the vaccine, it’s not just to prevent the worse outcome of COVID-19 for you but it’s to try to create a huge community of people who have the antibody response to break the chain of infection so that we can end this pandemic. He urge everyone to register for the vaccines when it’s open for registration in March 2021.
The first batch of vaccines will be arriving in Malaysia on 21st February 2021 and the vaccination for the first phase will begin on 26th February. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will be the first to receive the jab. Coincidentally, South Korea is also starting its vaccination programme on the same day as Malaysia.
For more info, you can visit the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme website.
