He said the government still needs to look closely into the outcome of vaccine efficacy and safety before it can make any decision on the matter.
“Vaccination delivers hope but it’s too early for the government to make any decision on whether it will be our ‘immunity passport’ to travel, around the world for example.
“Let us get the vaccination (programme) going and then get it evaluated from time to time,” he said in his prerecorded speech for the “Forward Malaysia: Charting New Paths to the Next Normal” webinar by Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia that was held via the Zoom application today.
He said this in reply to a question on the immunity passport from consultant physician of Acute Medicine and Malaysian Advanced Acute Internal Medicine and Ultrasound Society president Dr Paras Doshi, who was one of the speakers.
The question was forwarded to Noor Hisham earlier as he was unable to participate in the webinar today.
Noor Hisham said that for a start, the government might look at the possibility of easing Covid-19 restrictions, for example the quarantine requirement, only if the vaccination programme did really well.
However, he said that at the same time, the government needs to be sure whether a booster is needed and whether the immune response will continue after one or two years, once vaccinated.
“We need to look at the data … at least eight months or one year to a maximum of two years to show efficacy as well as the safety of vaccines.
“I think there are a lot of questions unanswered at the moment but we hope for the best.
“However, most importantly, in this period of time, you still need to comply with all the standard operating procedures (SOPs) even if you have been vaccinated.”
He added if the vaccines and SOPs work, the health ministry might actually look into the immunity passport idea again by discussing with its counterparts as well as with the World Health Organization.
“On whether we can return to our normal life before the pandemic, that is something that we hope we can do. But until we have looked into the success of the vaccination programme, whether it will give us the immunity passport, that is left to be seen.
“We need time for us to adapt to this new environment. We are living in very tough and challenging times. But, more importantly, we must adapt to it. Until then, we cannot return to normal life.”