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Marianne Clark-Hattingh, Unicef’s representative in Malaysia, said the organisation’s experience showed that there is little evidence that “mandatory laws improve vaccination coverage”.
This comes a day after the health ministry set up a task force to study proposals and calls to make vaccination compulsory, following the death of a two-year-old boy from diphtheria in Johor Bahru on Feb 21. The boy had never been immunised.
Five more children, who were reported to have been in contact with the victim, were also confirmed positive for diphtheria and quarantined at the Sultanah Aminah Hospital in Johor Bahru.
Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said the task force would be led by the ministry’s disease control division and family health development division.
In a statement today, Clark-Hattingh expressed concern over the reemergence of measles and diphtheria in Malaysia and the rising number of parents who are reluctant to get their children vaccinated.
“Preventing an unvaccinated child from going to school is a violation of their right to access education,” she added.
“Unicef’s position is that if children are denied access to school, then the government has a duty to ensure there are provisions for these children to receive an education.”
Backing the government’s efforts to acknowledge the significance of vaccination, she nonetheless noted the need to understand the reasons behind parents’ reluctance.
“We need to understand why parents are reluctant to vaccinate and guide them with the right information and targeted campaigns.
“There is also a need to constantly engage healthcare providers for improved communication with clients.
“A child’s best interest is served when parents and caregivers act to protect them from infectious diseases with vaccination based on an informed decision or prompted by non-coercive measures and interventions,” she said.
Unicef has also urged both private and public health workers to make sure every child in every community is vaccinated.
“Malaysia, as a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is equally mandated to give children the best healthcare and education possible,” Clark-Hattingh added.
Unicef has raised the alarm over the rising number of cases of measles globally, saying 98 countries reported more cases of measles in 2018 compared to 2017, eroding progress against this highly preventable, but potentially deadly disease.
‘No jab, no school’
Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said the government is studying the possibility of allowing only vaccinated children to enrol in schools. She said the proposal would be studied in detail, Bernama reported.
“That’s one of the things that we are proposing to prevent diseases,” she told reporters after launching the Petronas Foundation today.
On Monday, Bernama reported that several parties, including the Malaysian Islamic Doctors Association (Perdim) and Malaysia I-Medic, had suggested this move to protect children from preventable diseases such as diphtheria and measles.
Wan Azizah, who is also women, family and community development minister, said immunisation was safe and no doubts should arise from it.
The Department of Islamic Development and Malaysia (Jakim) had also issued a fatwa on the halal status of vaccines used.
Wan Azizah said the immunisation programme in 2017 had reached 88% of the original 95% target.
“We encourage parents to immunise their children,” she said and asked people not to listen to claims by anti-vaccine groups.
She said there may have been one or two cases of vaccines giving problems. “This was very unfortunate but for the majority of others, the vaccines have been safe,” she said.
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