He said it was in line with data collected in the country on full vaccination efficacy as well as scientific and public health principles applied globally.
“The relaxation certainly comes with a risk of an increase in daily (Covid-19) cases,” he said.
“However, the government is also not underestimating the benefits of full vaccination and also the roles the relaxation can play towards the mental and physical health of the people and also to the country’s economy,” he said in a special address regarding the relaxation of restrictions today.
He said the government has mobilised its entire machinery and is working with the private sector and non-governmental organisations in a “whole of nation” approach to ensure more vaccinations are administered as quickly as possible, especially with the emergence of new aggressive variants of the virus.
Muhyiddin said those who were fully vaccinated could build immunity against the Covid-19 virus, and have stronger protection against severe symptoms, which in turn is capable of reducing the infectivity rate by 50%.
He said admissions of those aged 60 and above had shown a downward trend at Sungai Buloh Hospital’s general wards and intensive care wards.
This showed that there had been a positive impact on senior citizens and health ministry workers vaccinated under the national immunisation programme .
“A total of 246,242 health workers have been fully vaccinated of whom only 4,635 or 1.88% became infected with Covid-19; of these, 4,625 or 99.78% only showed mild symptoms or were asymptomatic,” he said.
He said none of them were in Category 5, which requires respiratory support, while seven cases or 0.15% were in Category 3 (with congested lungs) and only three cases (0.06%) were Category 4 cases (requiring additional oxygen).
Muhyiddin said as the number of those fully vaccinated increases, with protection from more severe infection, there will be less of a burden on the public health system; more economic and social sectors could be opened in stages and the country could come out of the pandemic in a more orderly and safe manner.
“The simple analogy is that when a person is fully vaccinated, a person prepares his body with ‘soldiers’ or antibodies to fight the ‘enemy’ or germs or diseases.
“If the ‘enemy’ attacks, and we have only started to train the ‘soldiers’ for war, it could be too late as the body by then would have been susceptible to severe infection. Vaccination ensures the body’s production of antibodies earlier to fight dangerous diseases and in this case the Covid-19 virus,” he said.