Does the brand of Covid-19 vaccines matter, and other vaccine dilemmas

DOC2US, the first and only telemedicine provider in Malaysia in compliance with the Ministry of Health to provide digitally signed e-prescription services, released today a series of infographics to help addressing the concerns on Covid-19, its vaccines and related issues.

Based on the questions received by its Covid-19 Task Force via the Government’s integrated platform, MySejahtera app, one of the most frequently asked questions in recent months is “Does the brand of Covid-19 vaccines matter?”.

Dr Ming-Lee Ng, Medical Director of DOC2US said, “Different brands of Covid-19 vaccines have varying efficacies and it gets complicated when different brands measure efficacy differently. Instead of getting into the nitty-gritty of each brand, we should focus on the ultimate goal in achieving herd immunity by having at least 80% of the adult population in Malaysia vaccinated.”

According to Our World In Data, only 2.5% of the Malaysian population is fully vaccinated as at May 18, 2021, lagging behind the global figure of 4.7%.  

Dr Raymond Choy, Chief Executive Officer of DOC2US said, “ We assembled our Covid-19 Task Force which is made up of professional doctors and healthcare professionals shortly prior to the movement control order (MCO) 1.0 in March last year.  It is a voluntary virtual health advisory service with the aim to help the public gain adequate information about the spread and the management of the Covid-19 pandemic and reduce patient-medical healthcare specialist contact.  The public can ask our task force questions on Covid-19 and related matters via the MySejahtera App for free.”  

Some of the most frequently asked questions received by the task force on Covid-19 and related issues are:

1. Does the brand of Covid-19 vaccines matter?

The short answer is: No, the brand does not matter. Follow this link for a more detailed answer.

2. “What if I suddenly don’t feel like receiving the vaccination on that day? Can I just ffk (stands for fong fei kei, it means ditching or stand up on an appointment in Cantonese)?”

Technically you can. Receiving a vaccination is a voluntary action, you won’t be criminalised for ditching your Covid-19 appointment. However, unless you have a valid reason, you SHOULDN’T miss your Covid-19 vaccination appointment. Here’s why.

3. How to report adverse effects following Covid-19 vaccination

4. Can you tell me more about blood clots & Covid-19 vaccines?

Authorities in certain countries speculated that AstraZeneca's or Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccines are linked to a few rare but serious blood clotting cases. To be fair, when we said that these two vaccines are linked to rare but serious blood clotting cases, we don’t mean that the vaccines cause the blood clot; it’s just that these two vaccine and certain blood clot cases seemed to have some unclear connection, but it doesn’t imply causation. At this stage, scientists simply do not know enough to answer that. (Click here for more info)

5. Should pregnant women receive Covid-19 vaccine?

At the moment, no study to date has specifically evaluated the Covid-19 vaccine in pregnant and lactating women. In other words, we don’t have enough data to inform us how safe the Covid-19 vaccine is in such a population. This DOES NOT mean that Covid-19 vaccine is unsafe for pregnant and breastfeeding women, it’s just that we don’t know its safety for sure. (Click here for more info)

6. Are more young people in Malaysia infected by Covid-19?

According to the analysis published by CodeBlue, although elderly aged 65 years old and above still comprised 59.5% of the death cases; but for the first time ever, the death rates among young people (25 to 54 years old) exceeded those who are slightly older, i.e. aged 55 to 64 years old, from March 31 to May 4 2021. In other words, more and more younger people in Malaysia have been admitted into ICU or died of Covid-19. (Click here for more info)

7. I'm Covid positive and currently in home quarantine. However, I have yet to receive a call from KKM. What should I do now?

Please refer to this link for more information.

If the public has any enquiries related to Covid-19, they can consult the Covid-19 Task Force for FREE through MySejahtera>Digital Health>VHA>DOC2US. – The Vibes, May 22, 2021

Dr Ng Ming Lee, MD is the Medical Director of HeyDoc International Sdn Bhd.

Dr Raymond Choy is the co-founder & CEO of Doc2Us.