KUALA LUMPUR – All Covid-19 vaccines used in Malaysia have been proven to be effective against the Delta variant, said Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He pointed to Labuan and Sarawak – where a high vaccination rate has reduced hospital admissions, intensive care unit bed usage and ventilator usage for Covid-19 patients.
The Klang Valley will also see a drop in cases once it vaccinates 50% of its population by month-end, he added.
“We are already seeing positive results, whereby in the Klang Valley, when we started vaccinating the elderly, Sg Buloh Hospital saw a decrease in (the number of) patients.
“And now we are also seeing a decrease in the 40-to-59 and 20-to-39 age groups in the past week.”
Dr Noor Hisham said of the 67 whole genome sequencing done to identify variants of concern in the country from July to August, 66 are confirmed to be Delta.
The Delta variant has a higher infectivity rate value, thus, is much more transmissible compared to the Wuhan virus, which sparked the pandemic last year, he added.
“Maybe in another three or four cycles, we can see a spike in protein mutations that are resistant to our vaccine, and we may not be able to detect them from testing.
“The fear is there, but we need to look into solutions (on) how best to contain the infection in our country,” he said, adding that more variants are expected to emerge.
He said the Covid-19 pandemic is a wake-up call for the public healthcare system, and an immediate change should happen to avoid such a catastrophic event in the future.
The health crisis has shown that it is possible to make wide and large-scale changes when certain hurdles are overcome via a concerted coordination from all stakeholders, he added.
Dr Noor Hisham said the healthcare system must be better-managed by doubling down on prevention and management of diseases, accelerating the adoption of digital technologies and data integration, as well as building a multisectoral approach to encourage investment and resourcing behind innovation.
He pointed out that digital adoption has been accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic, with inter-agency and ministry collaboration initiatives, and industry support, such as the MySejahtera application.
“For example, the collaboration between AstraZeneca and the Oxford University for the global development and distribution of the potential recombinant adenovirus vaccine aimed at preventing Covid-19 infection.” – The Vibes, August 14, 2021
