.jpg "Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin speaks during a press conference at Parliament in Kuala Lumpur January 5, 2021. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Yusof Mat Isa")
KUALA LUMPUR, April 19 — Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has rebutted anti-vaccine groups claiming that Covid-19 vaccines are ineffective.
He slammed anti-vaxxers for flooding social media with posts likening Covid-19 vaccinations to injections with water in response to the Health Ministry’s (MoH) revelation that 40 of its staff had contracted the coronavirus after their inoculations.
“Netizens who only read headlines shared them with friends,” he wrote in a Facebook posting last night.
Khairy explained that 31 out of the 40 MoH staff who caught Covid-19 had yet to receive their second vaccine dose.
“Our immune system is only best prepared to fight Covid-19 two weeks after the second dose. Only then can we be said to be fully vaccinated,” he said.
Khairy, who heads the national immunisation programme, added that anyone who is considered fully vaccinated is still vulnerable to Covid-19.
“Although vaccines reduce our chances of getting infected, infections can still occur.
“But if we are already fully vaccinated and infected with Covid-19, we will not experience severe symptoms. The vaccine protects us from severe symptoms such as admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), breathing support and death,” he said.
“That is why the nine health workers who tested positive after receiving two doses did not experience severe symptoms or any symptoms at all,” he added.
He reiterated that the Covid-19 vaccine is safe and effective.
In his posting, Khairy also shared a video of a woman explaining the procedures of the Covid-19 vaccination and how it works.
Yesterday, Malaysia recorded another 2,145 more Covid-19 infections for a cumulative total of 375,054, of which 19,854 were active.
Eight more deaths were also recorded yesterday, bringing the overall toll to 1,378.
