Vaccination Compulsory For All Kids

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PETALING JAYA: Doctors have called for all children in Malaysia to be first immunised against diphtheria and measles as a practical way of kickstarting a compulsory policy on vaccination as suggested by the Health Ministry
This is because both the diseases – especially diphtheria, which is believed to have been the cause of death of a two-year-old unvaccinated child in Johor Baru – are the most serious
Asia Pacific Pediatric Association secretary-general Datuk Dr Zulkifli Ismail said there was no need for a blanket ruling mandating vaccination for all 12 major childhood diseases.

“We can start by making diphtheria and measles vaccination compulsory in order to enrol the child in schools and later expand this requirement to enrolment in kindergartens and nurseries where groups of children gather.

“This would protect all children in schools, kindergartens and nurseries,” said Dr Zulkifli, who is also the technical committee chairman of Immunise4Life, an expert-driven community education initiative to promote immunisation.
Dr Zulkifli said at present, it was not mandatory for children to be immunised before being allowed to enrol in school
“However, most schools take it upon themselves to check. There is already an awareness so we just have to go a step further and actually state this as policy,” he said
While it is mandatory to show a child’s health card during enrolment, it is not compulsory for the child to have received immunisation before being allowed schooling
He was responding to a statement by Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad on Saturday that it would be tabling a proposal and a policy to make immunisation vaccination compulsory
There were attempts by the previous Barisan Nasional government to make vaccination compulsory for preschoolers as a condition for school enrolment after a spate of child deaths from diphtheria in 2016
However, it met with resistance and the then Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said the ministry would instead try to persuade parents to immunise their children
In IPOH, Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said such a policy had been considered “but it would be difficult to impose”
“It will be hard when parents use belief and religion (as reasons) if we want to enforce it,” he said after launching an anti-Aedes mosquito campaign
According to the Health Ministry, misinformation about vaccination had led to a huge jump in the number of vaccine-preventable diseases, with cases of measles jumping over ten-fold from 125 in 2013 to 1,467 last year
A lack of immunisation was detected last year in all six measles deaths recorded and in 19 of the 22 deaths from whooping cough (pertussis)
Malaysian Medical Association president Dr Mohamed Namazie Ibrahim said vaccination could and should be made compulsory for certain types of childhood diseases for which vaccines were available and found to be safe
“For it to be made compulsory, there must be adequate counselling of the patients or the parents
“The advantages and disadvantages must be disclosed in a manner that could be understood by the lay public,” he said
Dr Mohamed Namazie said there would be objections from “anti-vaxxers” who were against vaccination or who objected on ethical, political, medical safety and religious grounds
He said countries that had made immunisation for certain diseases mandatory included France, Bel­gium and Italy
“In countries that have legislation for compulsory immunisation, unvaccinated children are not allowed in nurseries, preschool and kindergartens,” said Dr Mohamed Namazie
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof said the Federal Territory Mufti had issued a fatwa stating that vaccines made in Malaysia were halal (permissible)
Mujahid urged sceptics debating whether immunisation vaccination was allowed in Islam to stop, adding that this was affecting children’s health
“In Islam, we are clear that based on the fatwa, it is encouraged for Muslims to vaccinate their children but it can be compulsory if this (non-vaccination) affects the health of the children,” he said.- Star

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