Instead, she said every mother with a baby aged six months and below needs to take the child to a clinic or hospital to get them vaccinated for the sake of their health.

“Please listen to me. We don’t want our child, who we gave birth to, to suffer later,” she told reporters in her brief message in conjunction with the International Women’s Day celebration today.

Siti Hasmah was accompanying her husband, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was on a two-day official visit to the Philippines.

According to Siti Hasmah, all mothers should ensure that their children continue to receive immunisations to prevent illness, disability and death from vaccine-preventable diseases, such as diphtheria, which was believed to have caused the death of a two-year-old toddler in Johor recently.