KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 ― Calls for mandatory vaccination have opened a new can of worms in Malaysia, resulting in two groups of doctors at odds with each other over the suggestion.

While Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam has nipped the idea in the bud, the conversation is now in the public sphere and has resulted in contrasting views from the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) and the Malaysian Paediatric Association (MPA).

"What our minister said is correct, it is everybody's right not [to accept vaccination] but if it endangers another person's life, then there must be some safeguards to protect the public... including mandating compulsory immunisation and a ‘no jab, no school’ regime,” MMA president Dr John Chew told Malay Mail Online when contacted yesterday.

He lauded the Health Ministry's move to educate Malaysians about the importance of immunisations, but also said if the awareness campaign fails, then the government should seriously consider making vaccination compulsory for children.

The Education Ministry was reported to be in talks with the Health Ministry on compulsory vaccinations for schoolgoing children nationwide following a reported rise in diseases preventable through innoculation.

Dr Chew has been among several vocal proponents calling for a review of the vaccination programme in a bid to end deaths resulting from preventable diseases.

He was previously reported to have highlighted some countries have a "no vaccination, no school” policy. He told Malay Mail Online Australia has adopted a similar approach.

Mandatory vaccination is not compulsory in Australia, but Canberra has enacted new laws that penalise those who refuse injections for their children, which is anyone below the age of 20.

This includes withholding government welfare benefits for parents who don’t vaccinate their children.

The country’s most densely-populated state of Victoria has also recently amended its Public Health and Wellbeing Act that bars parents of kindergarten age children and below from enrolling their non-vaccinated offspring at childcare centres statewide, effective January 1 this year. The law is known locally as "no jab, no play”.

Another country that made vaccination compulsory last year is Muslim-majority Pakistan, which seeks to save some 400,000 of its children a year who die from preventable diseases.

In the opposite camp to Dr Chew is MPA president Dr N. Thiyagar who lauds the Health Ministry’s awareness campaign but disagrees with the idea for mandatory innoculation.

He said such a move was not appropriate as children’s right to education should not be turned into a bargaining chip.

"Whatever restrictions imposed, it should not deprive children of their education,” he told Malay Mail Online when contacted.

Dr Thiyagar saying that education was the only way to "vaccinate” and "protect” people from being  influenced by wrong information disseminated by anti-vaccine groups.

He also called for healthcare providers to engage with parents who were misinformed on the importance of vaccinations.

Dr Thiyagar added that making vaccinations compulsory will be tricky as it could have medicolegal implications, expressing similar views to criminal and family law specialists who previously weighed in on a similar issue.

Former Medico-Legal Society of Malaysia president S. Radhakrishnan also weighed in on mandatory vaccination and reportedly claimed that it would be a fair trade-off between ensuring the rights of the individual and public interest.

He stressed that Malaysians need to be informed of the benefits of vaccinations so that the immunisation programme would not seen draconian.

Public opinion is split between the pro-vaccination group and the anti-vaccination movement on Malaysia following the return and jump in preventable diseases.

To date, there at 14 diphtheria cases nationwide to date and five deaths while measles have spiked 340 per cent to 873 cases as of the first week of June.

One often cited reason by the local anti-vaccination movement is that vaccines are not compatible with Islam, but the leaders of several states have said it is mandatory for Muslims to give their children approved vaccines.