JOHOR BARU, June 8 — Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar today cautioned the public to not be easily influenced by anti-vaccine groups that wish to dissuade people from receiving their Covid-19 vaccination shots.
He said that the anti-vaccine groups, or commonly called anti-vaxxers, are controlled by certain parties and their believe had potential implications for public health.
“The people need to understand that the purpose of taking the vaccine is to prevent the Covid-19 infection from continuing to threaten their health,” Sultan Ibrahim told the Johor Royal Press Office today.
His statement was also posted on his official Facebook page.
Sultan Ibrahim’s response came shortly after recent reports about anti-vaccine group’s disinformation on the negative side effects of the vaccine which have been widely shared on social media — leading some people to distrust the effectiveness of the vaccine.
Sultan Ibrahim also reminded that Islam teaches its followers to always maintain their health by taking measures to prevent harm, especially from disease outbreaks.
The 63-year-old state monarch said the Islamic law in determining such a situation comes from the concept that eradicating evil is more beneficial than bringing good.
“Preventing disease is better than curing it. Let us not listen to the nonsense spread by the anti-vaccine groups.
“The vaccine is for our personal safety and will go towards herd immunity so that the Covid-19 transmission can be prevented,” he said.
Sultan Ibrahim added that those who unreasonably reject the Covid-19 vaccine, which has been provided by the government and has been declared halal by the national fatwa council, seemed to be putting themselves at risk from being infected.
“Islam does not allow its people to completely surrender to fate, without any effort to avoid it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sultan Ibrahim also reminded some quarters to refrain from politicising the issue of vaccines.
He said this can be seen from the government’s effort in taking various effective approaches to increase the vaccine registration of the people.
Earlier, it was reported that the government has targeted over 200,000 individuals to receive their Covid-19 vaccination shots daily beginning July, and over 300,000 individuals daily from August onwards.
National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the steps to achieve the targeted numbers included opening more vaccination centres throughout the country.
