Sin Chew Daily

Finally the first batch of the coronavirus vaccines landed on Malaysian soil on Sunday, injecting a new lease of life into the country's fight against the virus and offering a new ray of hope in defeating this stubborn virus.

Prior to this, we could only pin our hopes on a series of measures such as the MCO and SOPs to contain the virus by minimizing public contacts and raising personal awareness.

However, daily new infection numbers remain high, showing that MCO 2.0 has produced only limited effects, if any at all. Moreover, as the government also needs to take care of the livelihood of Malaysians while saving lives, a complete lockdown is simply impossible, thus taking our protracted war against the virus to a bottleneck.

COVID-19 vaccines are therefore the ultimate and potent weapon that will bring things to order.

Following the arrival of the first batch of vaccines here, the government will begin rolling out our national immunization program in phases beginning Wednesday. Hopefully its smooth implementation will bring about herd immunity and drastically reduce the threat of the virus to human society.

Although it is impossible for us to completely forego the new normal way of living and revert to the old day-to-day living we were so much used to, at least we won't get killed by the virus, and can focus on reviving our severely battered economy.

In short, the key of this whole thing lies with the vaccines, and we therefore cannot afford to let our inoculation program fail.

As we pray that the program will be instituted smoothly, there are nevertheless several points along the way that warrant our attention.

First and foremost, Malaysians must have confidence in the vaccines, and where this is concerned, the government needs to reinforce public education while enhancing transparency to win the people's trust.

Generally speaking, Malaysians are not squarely against the vaccines although some may be skeptical about their efficacy and safety. As such, the government must try to convince them and make sure they are willing to get their jabs.

Secondly, the government must ensure adequate supply of vaccines. It has been reported that the government has secured the supply of some 66.7 million doses from five manufacturers through COVAX, enough for 109.65% of our population.

That said, given the fact that nations across the world are frantically grabbing up whatsoever stock available, it is hoped that our government will heed this phenomenon lest our vaccines get "intercepted".

Thirdly, proper planning of vaccine deployment is of paramount importance, from transportation all the way to administration on the recipients. We cannot afford to make even the slightest mistakes. The authorities must plan well ahead and take into consideration all situations that may arise.

Fourthly, undocumented foreign workers must all be inoculated, too. We have millions of them here, and if they are reluctant to come up for inoculation, a major crack will appear in our COVID-19 defense system, compromising the herd immunity effect.

Even though the government has said no actions will be taken against those who come forward, it lacks a substantial amnesty scheme. Besides, it is also questionable whether their employers will actually register them for inoculation.

All this aside, we have indeed made a significant first step in the national immunization program. Hopefully things will go well as planned and very soon we can put this pandemic behind us as we usher in a glorious new day!