It’s good to reopen our borders to reenergize the market, but before we do that, we have to get ourselves adequately prepared and make sure more people are under the protection of the vaccine.

The country will reopen its borders from April 1, allowing all fully vaccinated individuals to enter the country through land borders without mandatory quarantine.

With the national borders wide open soon, tourists are expected to come back while all cross-border activities will return to normal. The domestic economy is set to receive a significant boost and the market rejuvenated.

The tourist industry, in particular, will benefit the most, having been practically shut down and thrown into a dilemma over the past two years.

Even though tourists may not be back in droves immediately, at least the lifting of travel restrictions will help stop the bleeding, giving the industry time to put its business back on the feet towards the eventual recovery.

The reopening of borders goes well with the concept of “living with the virus”.

We can’t deny that these past two years of pandemic have remarkably bogged down the pace of development and disrupted ordinary people’s everyday lives. While we have no idea when the virus will vanish completely, we cannot afford to keep wasting our time struggling with the virus. We must embrace the new normal and learn to live with the virus.

As many are looking forward to the reopening of our national borders, some are nevertheless concerned and skeptical, worrying the pandemic will worsen and new cases surge once restrictions are loosened.

Such fears are by no means unfounded because the more human movements, the more people-to-people contacts and the higher the rate of virus transmission.

However, it is generally believed that if we get ourselves vaccinated and boosted, at least the situation will not get out of hand.

There are currently about two million people in this country still yet to receive their booster doses. Even if they have received two doses of the vaccine, the protection will start to wear off with time.

Meanwhile, there are people who just refuse to get vaccinated, along with children yet to receive their first doses. These are the people who will be highly susceptible to the risk of infection following the surge in human movements.

In view of this, it is imperative that the government expedite the administration of vaccine and encourage Malaysians to get vaccinated and boosted through various channels.

ProtectHealth Corporation has said recently that it will harness the existing home vaccination program to provide vaccination services to old people at their own homes for their convenience. This is one of the ways to encourage senior citizens to get their booster doses for enhanced protection.

According to statistics, vaccination rate is particularly low among young Malay children, and the government must find out the reasons for this phenomenon and try to improve their vaccination rate.

Additionally, the government must also step up its publicity effort so that no one will reject vaccination under the influence of misinformation.

Some are letting their guard down, thinking that the Omicron variant is less destructive. We must make it clear here that even though most Omicron cases are asymptomatic or with very light symptoms, it can still kill!

We also mustn’t think that once we get infected, the antibody produced in our body will fend off future virus attacks. There are instances of Omicron BA.1 cases re-infected with BA.2, and there are reports of multiple infections within a single month.

In short, the coronavirus threat is still very much evident, and we should take heed of the advice of experts to get ourselves vaccinated and boosted as soon as possible.

It’s good to reopen our borders to reenergize the market, but before we do that, we have to get ourselves adequately prepared and make sure more people are under the protection of the vaccine as we sail towards our goal of safely “living with the virus”.