Written by Ivan Jan En Yu

At the time of writing, the COVID-19 situation in Malaysia has far surpassed the 800K and 5k marks with regards to the total figures of the actively infected and the deceased respectively. These frightening figures perfectly demonstrate the gravity of the situation, which demands urgent attention and precedence for resources to be funnelled into its solutions. Since a cure for the Covid-19 pandemic has yet to come into being, it thus makes sense that the realistic stoppage to the pandemic’s spread would be through vaccinations. These would serve to grant individuals immunity to the disease and cumulatively, also achieve herd immunity in the whole community, provided that a sufficient proportion of the population get vaccinated. However, nationwide vaccination as the main solution means that its effectiveness and success rate will be dependent on the population’s vaccination uptake and willingness to do so. This line of reasoning is precisely why the government is considering the bolstering of the national vaccination program by mandating vaccination towards everyone in Malaysia, despite the humanitarian, religious, cultural, and perhaps personal beliefs that such an act may highly infringe upon. As such, this article will assess the strengths and weaknesses of each side of the debate on the mandating of vaccinations. 

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In the first place, one of the main factors for the government’s consideration of such an unprecedented policy is that the low figures of vaccination participants has cast a shadow of doubt over the government’s hopes of reaching herd immunity by the end of the year. As it stands, although registration for vaccinations began in February, only 36% of the eligible Malaysian population had signed up by late April. To make matters worse, Utusan Malaysia has reported that approximately more than 50,000 people had missed out on their appointments across all 7 states in Malaysia. Although brash, such a hard-lined policy has its justifications given that Malaysia has managed to acquire about 66.7 million doses of all sorts of internationally approved vaccines such as Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, CanSinoBio and Sputnik V. In a way, it can be said that since the necessary resources and mediums are already in place, a simple policy push would be all it would take for Malaysia to reach their coveted target of 70% herd immunity. Thus, despite the appealing aspects of this proposition on paper, too many real-world contributing factors would get in the way of the potential successes of this idea when it comes to actually implementing it in practice. 

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According to a survey published by BMC public health, studies have shown that the reluctance to take the vaccine can be attributed to numerous factors such as fears of side effects, a lack of information, religious or cultural backgrounds and lastly, medical incompatibilities. To proceed with the scheme of mandating vaccinations would therefore be tantamount to wilfully disregarding the needs and wants of the population. Not only that, it would sideline the likes of patient autonomy and freedom of choice, which may set unfavourable precedents for the extent of power that the government is entitled to exercise during these times of emergency crises. Therefore, it can be said that alternative and passive solutions may be preferable since they would allow for concessions and accommodations to be made for everyone’s differing circumstances. These alternative policy measures may include making use of mass media to educate the public and regulate information with regards to the COVID-19 pandemic along with enforcing public opinions and trust in their healthcare professionals. Nevertheless, although this form of approach would protect and abide by ethical and humanitarian values, it may still fall short of being considered the best possible option. This is because as it stands, the Malaysian intensive care units are constantly being forced to operate beyond their full capacities due to the high inflow of patients, rendering treatment to be inefficient to meet demand. Hence, it can be seen that the softness and long-term aspects of this humanitarian approach would fail to serve as a quick or effective enough response to serve the best interests of the nation.

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By looking into the policies adopted by foreign nations, inspiration may be taken to perhaps formulate the most ideal stance to be taken when considering mandating vaccinations. Examples of approaches taken by other countries include Australia, which has adopted the “No Jab, No Pay” policy that retains child benefits for children that have yet to be vaccinated, Italy’s fines for unvaccinated students and the USA’s restriction of unvaccinated students from attending school. Besides coercion-esque techniques, benefit-based models have also been implemented by several countries, an instance of which has been expressed by Doctor Zamberi, who states that some countries have been incentivizing vaccination by granting those who have been vaccinated, access to public places such as malls or stadiums. Notably, the most significant aspect of these foreign policies can be said to be the partial status of their vaccination mandating schemes. Although it remains a threat to ethical and humanitarian values, such transgressions can be overweighed by the benefits that it brings overall. By targeting a certain demographic, the impact of the infringement on human rights will also be at a much lower scale. Finally, as the cherry on top to these justifiable all-rounded policies, their effectiveness can also be seen to be unaffected by their partial aspects of population focus since herd immunity is achievable at a minimum of 70%, not 100%.

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Conclusively, it is my view that the most ideal approach to be taken is to mandate vaccinations albeit partially and with exemptions to those who are unable to vaccinate whether it be for religious, cultural or medical reasons. The directive to mandate vaccinations may also be a temporary order for the sake of controlling the spread of the pandemic, and as much as possible, reduce the scale of transgressions on ethical and human rights values. As it stands, the overloaded medical field of Malaysia is exactly what justifies the order to mandate vaccinations since greater harm than good would be done if the current situation is allowed to proceed unimpeded as it is. Overall, the means justifies the end when it comes to adopting the policy of mandating vaccinations for the sake of a healthier and better Malaysia.