Sin Chew Daily

Minister of science, technology and innovation Khairy Jamaluddin said the government would soon issue appointment notices for phase 2 inoculation that will begin on April 19. The second phase is targeting mainly senior citizens, individuals suffering from chronic illnesses and physically disabled.

The start of phase 2 vaccination program marks a new milestone towards the achievement of herd immunity for the country. That said, the road ahead of us is still very long.

With the continuous public education from the government, so far more than 7.23 million people have registered for the immunization program, about 27.7% of the 26.15 million target in order to achieve herd immunity.

Khairy said some 580,000 had completed either their first or both vaccine shots, reaching almost 90% of the goal for the first phase of vaccination program. The government hopes that all Malaysians aged 18 and above will be inoculated eventually.

As the number of people vaccinated so far only makes up 2.22% of the targeted population required for herd immunity, we still don't see marked results in our fight against the coronavirus. But reassuringly, thanks to strict compliance with the SOPs and the MCO enforced, the daily new infection number has begun to fall to three digits, and we believe within half a year, when we enter the third phase of vaccination, we may be "momentarily" out of the grips of the deadly virus.

Let's take a look at the situation elsewhere in the world. As of 09:00 Tuesday morning, we recorded a cumulative total of 128.36 million positive cases and 2.8 million deaths worldwide, with over 20 countries registering more than a million cases each, including the United States, Brazil, India, France, Russia and the UK.

In the US, more than 31 million people, or almost 10% of the country's population, have been infected. Although 144 million vaccine doses have so far been administered in the US (55% of the target for herd immunity), immunologist expert Anthony Fauci has warned that the country is still in a very dangerous stage, while President Joe Biden has planned to expand the vaccination scope.

Although France has put in a lot of effort, the country still fails to put the virus under containment, with the total number of confirmed cases surpassing Russia to reach a high of 4.55 million, the fourth highest in the world. Vaccination has become the last ditch effort.

Meanwhile in the UK, the government has confessed that the situation is still not under control and the country is therefore unable to share its vaccines with other countries. Even though more than 34 million people or 51% of the country's population have been inoculated, there is no stopping to the vaccination drive.

As of Monday, around 600 million vaccine doses have been administered globally, but that is only 10% of the target needed to achieve herd immunity. Much fewer have had their second doses administered.

Khairy has said there is inadequate supply of vaccines globally, and even though we have made the payment, it doesn't mean the vaccines will be here next month. The minister's remark is not totally unfounded. It is not possible for developed countries to defer their inoculation programs and it is therefore impossible for them to share their vaccines with other countries.

We must not take things for granted. There are several things we need to understand:

1. Vaccines are in serious shortage. If each individual is to be given two doses, we will need 12 billion doses for everyone in this world. Without new manufacturing plants or lines coming on stream soon, we may need four years to get 80% of the world's population immunized. So, we should stop hesitating whether or not to get our jabs.

2. The situation is still very taxing. UK and US were the earliest countries to have rolled out their vaccination programs since early December. So far they have taken 110 days to inoculate 50% of the population (either one or two doses). Nevertheless, the virus is still not yet contained. So, nationwide vaccination and full compliance with SOPs are absolutely necessary.

3. Mutant variants have emerged in the UK (B.1.1.7), South Africa (B.1.351) and Brazil (P1). 67% of recent new cases reported in France have been infected with the B.1.1.7 variant. Because of the powerful infectiousness of the variant, France has now climbed up to the fourth spot globally for total number of COVID-19 cases within a relatively short period of time.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned that the P1 variant from Brazil could spread two times as fast, and can bypass the antibodies, rendering the vaccines ineffective.

What we can do now is to cooperate with the government in fighting the virus and actively take part in the vaccination exercise. Even highly developed countries still fail to defeat the virus, we simply cannot afford to allow ourselves to be of the slightest complacency.