Opinion

Don’t demonise those who do not wish to be vaccinated – J.D. Lovrenciear

Education and awareness, not intimidation and threats, will win the day

Updated 5 years ago · Published on 24 Oct 2021 4:00PM

Don’t demonise those who do not wish to be vaccinated – J.D. Lovrenciear
As the custodian of the nation’s healthcare, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin should not be threatening those who do not want to get jabbed. – The Vibes file pic, October 24, 2021

HEALTH Minister Khairy Jamaluddin seems to be fuelling a divide between the vaccinated and those who do not wish to be jabbed.

First, he blurted that “anti-vaxxers” will soon see their lives be made difficult for them. 

Now, he hits out at the personal, medical and physical conditions of politicians. 

In urging Malaysians, especially politicians, to continue wearing masks in public, he is reported to have said on his Instagram that, “more and more of my colleagues are being seen in photos at meetings without masks on.

“Many politicians have diabetes, hypertension and are probably obese.

“If you get Covid-19, even with the vaccine, it’s not going to be fun and games.”

The honourable minister needs to be schooled on the following. 

1. People who choose not to be vaccinated are not “anti-vaxxers”. Anti-vaxxers are people who damn and protest against vaccination and the vaccinated. So, he should not label citizens exercising their medico-legal rights not to be vaccinated as anti-vaxxers and create a deep rift among citizens.

2. When even vaccine manufacturers are so divided and secretive about the rights to manufacture and sell, governments are at a loss in getting all vaccines recognised on equal footing for the right to travel and human mobility. 

3. The school of medical sciences is divided in its opinion on available vaccines, including emerging booster doses. Not all that is on the net is fake or dubious. The onus is on the World Health Organisation (WHO) to ensure governments educate their citizens adequately, effectively and afficatiously. 

4. When health ministers warn that they “will make life difficult” for those who choose not to be vaccinated, it moors into bullying and intimidation.

5. To charge publicly that Malaysian politicians are suffering from “diabetes, hypertension and are probably obese” is crude and cruel.

6. You don’t publicly call people by such labels, honourable minister, especially when you are the nation’s custodian of health. The past decades of statistics were screaming into the ears of the government that Malaysians are not eating, living and exercising right.

7. If leaders are still not wearing masks appropriately and not conforming to the WHO SOP advisory, then the health minister should ask his predecessor why as we have clocked 24 months battling the virus. 

In summary, stop raking up feelings that those who choose not to get vaccinated are “anti-vaxxers”.

You, as the custodian of the nation’s healthcare, should not rile up the emotions of those who are vaccinated by raining threats on those who choose not to be vaccinated. – The Vibes, October 24, 2021

J.D. Lovrenciear reads The Vibes

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