THE issue of some parents refusing to participate in the infant immunisation programme is getting to be more serious.
Most of the reasons for rejection are due to skepticism over vaccine content which is suspected to be not halal.
“Debate on this issue is played out on social media such as Facebook and blogs but it is not based on facts.” said State Health committee chairman Dr Afif Bahardin at a recent press conference.
The immunisation programme is implemented to reduce the probability of infection such as measles, tuberculosis, pertussis, diphtheria and meningitis.
“Statistics also show that deaths involving infants infected with these viruses reduced by 95% after they were immunized,” said Dr Afif.
“In Malaysia, only three out of thousand babies die of the above diseases, which is on par with the United Kingdom.
“Immunisation is important so as to prevent epidemics from occurring but due to the influx of immigrants and also the existence of a small group of parents who refuse to get immunisation will cause a problem,” he said.
“Immunisation is important as a step to prevent epidemics,” said Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari.
Through proper education and awareness on the immunisation programme, Zairil urged the Health Ministry to allay the parents’ fears and doubts on the vaccine and its contents.-EJ-