For one, a little over eight million will receive a third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, with high-risk groups such as the elderly and healthcare workers given priority.
Health minister Khairy Jamaluddin has also vowed to make “life difficult” for those who refuse to inoculate themselves.
As it stands, 91.4% of the country’s adult population have been fully vaccinated, while 20.2% of children aged between 12 to 17 have received both doses.
Since last Sunday, new infections have generally been below the 8,000 mark, with the exception on Thursday when 8,084 cases were reported.
Both Sarawak and Selangor shared the dubious distinction of registering the most number of infections daily from Oct 10 to 15, with cases surpassing 1,000 on average.
Except for Oct 12, the number of fatalities was below the 100 mark. On Tuesday, 103 had succumbed to the virus. Only twice did the number of brought-in-dead cases go over 20 – with 26 recorded on Oct 12 and 22 on Oct 14.
On average, the number of clusters detected in the past week was 12, a majority of which were reported at the workplace.
FMT takes a brief look at the major headlines on Covid-19 over the past week.
Woman, netizen probed for linking vaccines to deaths
Police are probing two individuals who had separately claimed that several students and teachers died after getting inoculated.
The duo, a woman and a man, are now being probed for fear mongering and defamation respectively.
Another shot in the arm for vaccines
Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccine is now available at GPs and private hospitals nationwide. The vaccine, which is distributed by local pharmaceutical company Duopharma Biotech Bhd, has been approved for use by those aged 18 to 59.
The Sinopharm vaccine requires two doses, administered at an interval of 21 days, according to WHO. The first shipments of the vaccine arrived in September.
Vexed by anti-vaxxers
The health ministry has lodged multiple police reports against anti-vaccine groups in the country, according to minister Khairy.
He hopes that authorities act swiftly against these individuals who spread fake news and anti-vaccine sentiments which he found “annoying”.
Have migrants been vaccinated?
Activist New Su Shern, the executive director at Project Libera8, said it was possible that half of the documented and undocumented migrant workers in Malaysia are not fully vaccinated.
In June, Khairy said about 400,000 foreigners, comprising expatriate and migrant workers, had registered under MySejahtera for Covid-19 vaccination. This is 16% of an estimated 2.5 million migrants who are documented.
Unofficial data suggests that there may be up to four million migrant workers who are undocumented.
Lack of digital certs among Orang Asli
The lack of digital certificates among the fully vaccinated Orang Asli makes it difficult for the community, especially those in rural Kelantan, Perak and Pahang to go about their daily lives.
Senator Isa Ab Hamid said this was because the existing physical certificates – issued by the health ministry – were not accepted in some business premises and government offices.
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