According to the COVIDNow dashboard, 97.7% of total adults (22.9 mil) in Malaysia have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and 98.9% of adults (23.2 mil) have received at least one dose. This calculates to just 1% of the total adult population who are unvaccinated, but the reality is there are more unvaccinated adults than you think.
If you look at the national level, the dashboard states that 245,159 adults are unvaccinated, which is just 1% of the total population. However, if you look closer, there are 5 states which have not yet hit the 90% adult vaccination rate. To recap, the government lifted interstate travel restrictions when 90% of total adults nationwide were fully vaccinated.
10-22% of adults in Kedah, Perak, Pahang, Kelantan and Sabah have not been vaccinated yet
As of 7th January 2022, the adult vaccination rate is 89% in Kedah, 88.7% in Perak, 87.7% in Pahang, 81.0% in Kelantan and 76.0% in Sabah. Based on COVIDNow data, Sabah currently has the largest unvaccinated adult population with 616,552 individuals, followed by Kelantan with 218,969 individuals and Perak with 191,710 individuals. In total, there are 1,315,314 unvaccinated adults from the 5 states combined.
States with a larger unvaccinated population would pose a higher risk of severe COVID-19 infection which could lead to more pressure on the healthcare system. According to the trend, Sabah, which has the lowest vaccination rate, is currently seeing a rise in the number of cases, hospital admissions and deaths in the past few weeks. The situation raises concerns especially with the arrival of the Omicron variant which is seen to be more infectious than Delta.
Population size discrepancy
If you’re wondering how is it possible for Malaysia to get a 1% adult unvaccinated rate when there are over 1.3 million unvaccinated adults from 5 states, this is due to our current population data. Looking at the overall progress by state, the Klang Valley, Negeri Sembilan, Labuan, Pulau Pinang, and Johor are currently showing more than 100% for its fully vaccinated adult population.
In the Klang Valley alone, it is shown that 117.9% of the adult population has been fully vaccinated. The only logical explanation is that this is due to the unaccounted population which includes people from other states, foreigners, and undocumented migrants. It should also be noted that the vaccination count is based on vaccinations administered within the respective states which may include people who travelled from another state to get their jab (e.g. Negeri Sembilan resident getting vaccinated in Selangor). There’s also the possibility that Malaysia’s population is actually a lot higher than the current 32.6 million figure.
Risk of COVID-19 infections and death are significantly higher for unvaccinated
Data has shown that the risk of COVID-19 infections, hospitalisations and deaths are higher among those who are unvaccinated. Dr Maesh Appannan, the head of data at the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) at the Ministry of Health has revealed last month that the risk of COVID-19 death is 35X higher among the unvaccinated versus those who are fully vaccinated.
According to the COVIDNow dashboard, COVID-19 deaths in Malaysia among the unvaccinated is currently 16.6 out of 100,000 people, versus 1 out of 100,000 for fully vaccinated. COVID-19 deaths among the boosted is 0.1 out of 100,000 people.
COVID-19 infections among the unvaccinated is currently 315 out of 100,000 versus 128.9 out of 100,000 among the fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, COVID-19 infections among the boosted is significantly lower at 45 out of 100,000.
7.5 million boosters have been administered so far
To increase protection levels against COVID-19, Malaysia is currently running its booster programme which is recommended for individuals 3 months after being fully vaccinated. The Health Ministry plans to accelerate boosters by reopening mega vaccination centres in the Klang Valley. As of 7th January, more than 7.5 million boosters have been administered which covers 32.3% of the total adult population.
You can view the latest COVID-19 data on vaccination and cases on the COVIDNow dashboard. The raw data is also available for public viewing on GitHub.
Related reading
- Khairy: Klang Valley to get Mega PPVs to increase COVID-19 booster vaccination from 15 January
- Khairy slams anti-vaxxers spreading fake news about his COVID-19 vaccination status
- COVID-19: What the Omicron variant means for Malaysia so far
- Dear Aunty and Uncle in WhatsApp groups… Preparing for the Omicron Wave
