PETALING JAYA: Masks are still a must for Malaysians as the festive season continues and the country battles an onslaught of Covid-19 cases, say health authorities and experts.
Their advice comes at the heels of the latest guidance by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which said that fully vaccinated individuals in the United States need not wear masks when they are outdoors.
A person is considered “fully vaccinated” two weeks after they have received their second dose.
However, Malaysia’s Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah maintained that for now, masks still need to be worn.
PETALING JAYA: The less-than-ideal uptake in Covid-19 vaccine registration so far is because of trust issues, say medical and public health experts.
They attribute the low numbers to the circulation of dubious information including hearsay, and have called on the government to utilise all its resources to clear any doubts and instil trust in the vaccines among the public.
Universiti Malaya professor of occupational and public health Prof Dr Victor Hoe said some people had the misconception that the vaccines were unsafe or that some were better than others.
“When I held community engagements with residents, I found there were still many people who did not trust the safety of the vaccines. They were worried about possible adverse effects of taking the vaccines.
PETALING JAYA: Access to a variety of vaccines makes fighting the Covid-19 pandemic that much easier and health experts are hoping that more people in the country can get their immunisation sooner.
Universiti Malaya occupational and public health expert Prof Dr Victor Hoe said having more choices of vaccines was good for the country.
He was responding to news that the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine had met the requirements for emergency use in the United States and will be approved soon.
“As we know there are different variants of the SARS-Cov-2 from different regions of the world, and some vaccines are more efficacious against certain variants. It will be good for the country and globally to have access to various vaccines, ” he said.
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