‘Refer doubts on vaccination, immunisation to authorities’

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KUALA LUMPUR: Parents and guardians who are not sure about the effects of vaccination and immunisation must refer to the authorities, and abstain from making decisions themselves without verified information.

Universiti Sains Islam’s World Fatwa Research and Management Institute director Prof Madya Dr Irwan Muhd Subri said among those they should refer to would be the Health Department or Mufti Department in every state.

“Most guardians who refused to get their children vaccinated was due to the influence of wrong information and ideologies obtained from the social media,” he said in a discussion session held in conjunction with the Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya Federal Territories level ‘Jelajah Bicara Dari Perspektif Syariah’ Seminar, here, yesterday.

Irwan said netizens in Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp uploaded inaccurate claims on the vaccination and immunization such as the risk of birth defects and that the vaccine purportedly contained impure materials.

Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur Hospital’s Institute of Pediatrics Senior Consultant Paediatric Specialist Dr Kamarul Azahar Mohd Razali said parents and guardians need not worry about their children’s safety when getting vaccination.

“All medical substances used in the vaccination had undergone various tests and free from impure materials as claimed by certain parties,” he said.

According to media reports, the Health Ministry had recorded 500 cases of vaccination and immunization rejection between January and March this year, throughout the country. So far this year, there were five deaths and 28 positive diphtheria. According to the Ministry of Women, Family and Community, parents who refuse vaccinations and immunisations to their children to the extent of endangering their health could be charged under the Child Act 2001 (Act 611). — Bernama