IPOH: There is no necessity to make vaccination programmes compulsory, following the re-emergence of polio in Sabah.
Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said this was so because the vaccination rate nationwide had reached 95 per cent.
“We previously received a proposal to make the vaccination exercise compulsory as the vaccination rate for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) was at less than 95 per cent last year.
“However, off late, following efforts taken in terms of education and information provided to parents who were previously uncomfortable with the immunisation exercise, the rate (vaccination) has increased and all the vaccination given has reached above 95 per cent,” he said.
Dr Lee said this after opening the Placemaking Festival luncheon at the Gunung Rapat Convention Centre here today.
He was commenting on the Malaysian Family Medicine Academy (AFPM) recommendation which wants immunisation exercise to be made compulsory following the re-emergence of polio in Sabah.
He said the vaccination rate increase also showed that had people benefited through immunisation, which protected them from infectious diseases.
“As such, for the time being I feel that there is no need for us to make vaccination compulsory. We can still approach it through education and through other measures.
A three-month old toddler in Tuaran, Sabah, was earlier this month diagnosed with polio virus. The virus spreads from person to person and can invade an infected person's brain and spinal cord, causing paralysis.
It was reported that the polio virus which infected the boy was suspected to have been brought in from outside Malaysia.
The virus has made a comeback in Malaysia 27 years after its eradication.
The country’s last polio case was in 1992.
Malaysia and other Western Pacific region countries were declared polio-free in 2000.