In a statement yesterday, MHC said such infrastructure should include the end-to-end development from world-class scientific research to manufacturing and international distribution.
“These are ambitious but achievable goals as Malaysia is already equipped with high calibre human and technological resources. This will reduce Malaysia’s reliance on foreign manufacturers.
“Moreover, a domestic vaccine and pharmaceutical infrastructure will have far-reaching, positive ripple effects on our economy and global standing,” said the coalition.
MHC opined that Malaysians need to see a coordinated, government-led effort to boost vaccine confidence among the people with the government’s intended vaccine rollout happening in a month.
It said anti-vaccine narratives, conspiracy theories, and false information ran rampant on social media and in chat groups.
Given this, MHC said the government must engage with all levels of society to increase public education on vaccines and combat misinformation.
MHC also urged the media, academics, businesses, religious authorities, and civil society organisations to do their part in ensuring that only evidence-based information on vaccines is published and shared.
It also appealed to the government to prioritise the most vulnerable populations in terms of Covid-19 vaccination.
“Care home residents are among the frailest in our population, as proven by several clusters in this group. They must be given priority in the vaccination delivery schedule.
“An estimated 30,000 elder adults live in care homes, supported by approximately 8,000 carers. This is a reasonably small number of vaccine doses and should be high on the priority list,” MHC said.
According to the coalition, care home workers are front-liners too and must be prioritised alongside residents.
It said other vulnerable groups such as significantly disabled, migrant workers, and refugees must also be appropriately prioritised.
MHC also pointed out that the vaccine “is not a silver bullet that will rid us of the pandemic”.
It thus hoped that all would remember that preventive measures must remain in place for many months to come.
“However, we must use our most important vaccination programme in history to protect the vulnerable, address inequity, and build future self-reliance in our health system,” added the coalition.
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