Fatimah said the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine on pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and young children is of paramount importance.
KUCHING (June 2): Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah is still cautious despite the news that pregnant and breastfeeding mothers can now be injected with Covid-19 vaccine.
She said the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine on pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and young children is of paramount importance.
“If more testing need to be done let it be. We wait for the results because when it comes to effect of vaccine on pregnant mothers, the good or the adverse effect will be on two, not one precious lives. Similarly for the breastfeeding mothers,” she told The Borneo post today.
The Dalat assemblywoman was reacting to the launch of MySejahtera’s new feature for pregnant women and lactating mothers to identify themselves by updating their status in the app or when registering for the Covid-19 vaccination.
“For now, those that are eligible for vaccination must go for it so we can achieve herd immunity,” Fatimah said on the need for Malaysians who are above 18 to get their vaccine under the on-going National Immunisation Programme (NIP).
For those who has not got themselves vaccinated, adherence to the present Movement Control Order (MCO) standard operating procedure (SOP) is crucial in this war against Covid-19 pandemic, said Fatimah who is Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Women chief.
Meanwhile Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) Selangor chairperson Tee Hooi Ling urged pregnant and breastfeeding mothers not to skip updating their status to facilitate the appointment to receive the jabs.
“The procedure is straightforward – go to the vaccination section of the MySejahtera app and respond to two questions on whether you are pregnant or breastfeeding,” Tee said in a press statement.
“After replying, submit your response and you’re done. Do not forget to regularly ‘visit’ your MySejahtera to find out the date and venue to receive the vaccination and Covid-19 vaccine,” she added.
In addition to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, children are also at risk of contracting and spreading the dreaded coronavirus, just like adults.
Therefore, the need to inoculate children requires attention and priority.
However, until now the government has not received the results of vaccine tests on children, Tee said.
Pfizer announced they are in the third phase of testing on children between the ages of 12 to 15, while Moderna is still conducting safety tests as well as the effectiveness of the vaccine on children from the age of 12 to adolescence.
Children under the age of 12 years are still in the testing stage and approval takes time, she pointed out.
“For now, the key method to break the chain of this infectious disease and to lower the risk of infection among children still remains, that is, adherence to the SOP. Comply with the SOP for MCO 3.0 as well as Phase 1 of the total lockdown from June 1 to 14 2021. Do not bring children outdoors unless for four permitted categories, that is, emergencies, medical treatment, education and exercising and do supervise them at all times,” she said
Earlier, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin said doses were recommended to be given between 14 and 33 weeks of pregnancy, whereby the Pfizer vaccine has been recommended for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers.
However, for the moment, the AstraZeneca vaccine will only be administered to breastfeeding mothers, said Khairy.