Dear Friends, here you have a short report on how FREE COVID-19 VACCINATIONS ARE GIVEN to the Public in Malaysia.

Presently I am quite busy at my clinic as we are helping our local Ministry of Health to give free COVID-19 vaccinations to the public. The vaccines ie Pfizer and Sinovac are supplied to us and we have been asked by the Ministry to give it free of charge to the public ie Malaysians and Foreigners so that as many people as possible are vaccinated.

So far there are about 2,500 clinics throughout Malaysia providing this service. We have to indent for the vaccines weekly and then go to the nearest Ministry of Health District ( Kementerian Kesihatan Daerah) to collect the vaccines.I am glad to say that so far more than 90% of our Malaysian Population has been vaccinated and we are now giving the 2nd Booster Dose for those persons more than 60 years old with co-morbidities ie High Blood Pressure, Diabetes and High Cholesterol.

Malaysia has also started giving vaccination to children 5-12 years old via the Pfizer Vaccine. The Vaccines are collected and then put in an ice cooled box to ensurethat the temperature for Pfizure vaccines are kept at 2-8 Celsius degree range. Otherwise the vaccines will be spoilt and have to be discarded. Similarly when the vaccines are brought back to the clinic we have to put them in a fridge whose temperaturemust be kept at the 2-8 degree temperature range to prevent the vaccines getting spoilt. At the end of the day we have to give a report back to the Ministry of Health on the usage of the vaccine on that day and any leftover vaccine via the internet.As this whole process of collecting vaccine, storage of the vaccine under special temperature of 2-8 degree Celsius , giving the vaccine to the public and reporting back to the Ministry of Health is quite burdensome, only 50% of the 5,000 General Practitioners have volunteered to help our Ministry of Health or Malaysian Government to help to give free vaccination to the public.On our part we feel that we are doing a humantarian effort to help the public because the free vaccination is given to everyone irrespective of race or religion.

The refugees are also eligible to get the free vaccination as we do not want them to spread the coronavirus to their colleagues and other Malaysians.Otherwise the Refugees /Migrant Workerswill not be able to have access to the vaccines.Todate Malaysia is in an endemic phase. Previously at the peak we used to see 30,000 COVID-19 cases daily during the Delta Virus outbreak with about 100 daily fatalities. At that timeie 2 years ago our Hospital Beds were fully utilised and many patients needed to be ventilated. 

Thank God today we have reached the endemic phase and although we still have about 2,000 Omicron caes daily , the situation is almost back to normal because through the Mass Vaccination conducted by the Hospitals (Government and Private) and the 2,500 strong G.P.s, the Malaysian population have developed antibodies to the COVID-19 Virus including the less deadly Omicron Virus.

We are now allowed to return to work without any form of restrictions although we must follow Strict Operating Procedures (SOP.s ) like social distancing, wearing face mask in crowded places , washing hands frequently (sanitising), etc..Businesses are now slowing but surely picking up again. At the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak many businesses suffered and had to close as they were not allowed to open for business. The Hotel and Tourism category probably  suffered the most as no one was allowed to enter Malaysia due to the closure of our borders.
We are now allowed to go to Church physically to receive Holy Communion after being deprived of it for 2 years.Before this we can only attend Mass Virtually and receive Holy Communion Spiritually.

Due to the 2 year deprivation of attending Mass physically ,regrettably some Catholics have lost interest and are not attending Sunday Mass Physically.anymore.As for me I am one of those who are really glad to be able to receive our Lord Physically now at our usual Sunday Mass in Church so that by doing so we are our Faith, Love and Understanding of Our Lord Jesus Christ is further strenghtened. Amen!

In Jesus,

Dr. Freddie Loh

Chairman FIAMC Membership Committee..