KUALA LUMPUR: When the Delta variant of Covid-19 arrived in Malaysia, it threw out the “herd immunity” calculation, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin told the Dewan Rakyat today.
“That is why I don’t use the term ‘herd immunity’ anymore,” he added.
“Initially, when we first started the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) , we used the conventional formula to calculate herd immunity which requires between 70% and 80% to be vaccinated.
“However, this was before the spread of the Delta variant which has basically thrown out the herd immunity calculation and it is difficult to say when can we achieve herd immunity,“ he said.
“Therefore, we can no longer look at herd immunity anymore. We have to make sure to achieve the broadest possible coverage of vaccination; hence, that is why PICK for Adolescents aged between 12 and 17 is very important,“ he said.
He added that the health ministry is looking at the clinical trial data by Pfizer for vaccination for children under the age of 12, and that it is not enough for only around 80% and 90% of the adults to receive the vaccines while children are not vaccinated.
Khairy pointed out that even experts around the world have stopped using the term herd immunity in the Covid-19 context.
