Vaccinated health staff infected have less severe symptoms

Kuala Lumpur: Healthcare workers who were infected with Covid-19 after at least a single dose of vaccination had less severe symptoms, said Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pic).

“It is clear that we still can be infected after completion of the vaccination, but perhaps less in severity,” he said in his Facebook posting, Saturday.

He said although the vaccine gives hope of fighting the disease, the people should continue to comply with all the precautionary public health measures even after getting the vaccination.

No one is safe until everyone is safe, he said.

According to Dr Noor Hisham, 40 healthcare workers have been infected with Covid-19 after completing both doses of the vaccination, with nine of them more than two weeks after the second dose and 31 others were infected less than two weeks after getting the inoculation.

Another 142 healthcare workers were infected after the first dose, he said, adding that 244 workers were infected with Covid-19 before they were inoculated.

Meanwhile, a total of 438,220 individuals have received both doses of their vaccine shots under the first phase of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, as of Friday (April 16).

Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said during the same period, 687,176 individuals received the first dose, bringing the total number of Covid-19 doses administered in the country to 1,125,396.

He said the five states with the highest number of recipients receiving the first dose were Selangor with 97,416, followed by Kuala Lumpur (78,086), Sarawak (67,624), Johor (63,295) and Perak (56,295). 

The five states with the highest number of recipients who had completed both doses, so far, were Selangor with 63,126 individuals, followed by Perak (48,795), Sabah (43,033), Kuala Lumpur (38,642) and Sarawak (33,291). 

As for the number who have signed up for the immunisation programme, Dr Adham said as of Friday, a total of 8,902,528 or 36.4 per cent had registered with Selangor recording the highest number, totalling 2,347,091.