Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye flanked by National Poison Centre director Mohamed Isa Abdul Majid and Antimicrobial Resistance Seminar adviser Dr Jayabalan Thambyappa.
A three-month-old Malaysian boy from Tuaran was detected with polio on Dec 8, making it the first case in the country since 1992. Malaysia has been declared polio-free since 2000. The first dose gave 20% protection, the second raised it 80% and the final one could guarantee a 99% shield from polio, he said.
“It will take us a while to procure the OPV. We are talking to the World Health Organisation, Unicef and the Philippine government. The Filipinos have cheaper medicines,” he said.Lee said that immediately after the Tuaran polio incident, the government decided it would administer polio vaccines to all children in Sabah aged two months to five years.
Asked if polio vaccination would be made mandatory, Lee said it was something the government was looking at. He said the country’s vaccination rate was already good at 95%, which met international standards to counter outbreaks.Lee said 5,000 environmental health officers were on standby to fine smokers at eateries from Jan 1, as scheduled.
Unnecessary antibiotic consumption, he said, had led to patients not responding well to standard treatments and making diseases difficult to cure.
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