KUCHING: The Ministry of Health (MoH) has been urged to offer the people the freedom to choose the COVID-19 vaccine of their choice.
Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) president Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing argued that given the number of new positive cases reaching more than 10,000 in the country, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin should not refuse the public their choice of vaccine.
“During the Chinese New Year festive season, many people complained, especially parents and students who said that they were unable to choose China’s Sinovac or Sinopharm vaccine.
“Instead, the people were only given the Pfizer vaccine and this has got them thinking,” he said in a statement on Monday (Feb 7).
The Bintulu MP reasoned that by refusing to offer Sinovac or Sinopharm vaccines it would only discourage the people from being vaccinated.
“The pandemic is getting more serious across the country, so what is Khairy’s action as a responsible Health Minister? Why are there still no plans to implement standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the prevention of this increasingly worrying situation?” he asked.
Tiong noted that positive cases in Selangor alone had reached 2,490 cases, saying that despite this situation no action was forthcoming against existing clusters.
“If it is a cluster of infections from factories, construction sites or other localities, what exactly does the MoH need to do?
“If this infection is caused by travellers returning from abroad, what is Moh’s action, especially in terms of border control and illegal trails? If these controls are effective, why is the Omicron variant spreading?”
Tiong felt Khairy and Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah were not taking any effective action to curb the spread of the virus.
“We must know that fighting the pandemic cannot be just relying on press conference sessions alone.
“Instead it is necessary to inform the public about the direction and effective preventive measures to combat this pandemic.
“Otherwise, the decision to open the border gates is something in vain because it will definitely not get any response, no one dares to come to Malaysia, including foreign investors,” he said.
