Title: Malaysia’s ‘empty syringe’ incidents may fuel Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy, experts say
Lim Chee Han, an infection biologist and senior researcher with the Malaysia-based policy group Third World Network, said the incidents were particularly noteworthy given reports that some of those tasked with administering vaccines were selling jabs on the black market.
“There are three incidents that were reported and one even provided video evidence, so this had led to further decline in public confidence and it indirectly increased public suspicion about getting vaccinated,” Lim said.
The public health expert called for the government to reiterate to staff in vaccination centres that the occurrences hurt public confidence in the Covid-19 vaccine
“I must say that the vaccinators are all human, they could make mistakes given the amount of volume they must handle for a given period at the height of the vaccine roll-out campaign,” Lim said.
“But both sides should ensure they follow the standard operating procedure including observing the syringe content before and after because this can boost confidence given such incident reports surfacing.”
Full Article here: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3141849/malaysias-empty-syringe-incidents-may-fuel-covid-19
The full response is published by Agora Society:
#AgoraPOV 1st article, contributed by Chee Han
Please share, discussion is welcome!
#CheeHan : Understanding the "Empty Jab" phenomenon
This morning i just carefully read the news reports about the 3 highlighted incidents of "empty jab".
If I do not distrust the claims, and believe what the complainants said is entirely true, I must say that the vaccinators are all human, they could make mistake given the amount of volume they must handle for a given period at the height of the vaccine rollout campaign.
But both sides should ensure they adhere to the SOP including observing the syringe content before and after the injection, the vaccinators should always show it to the vaccinated person. This can boost the vaccinee's confidence, given these days having such incident reports surfacing.
The first case (drive thru at Sungai Petani), it could be just that the vaccinator was forgetful to plunge the syringe content, the young lady didn't observe at all what was happening. This actually could be prevented. But working in the outdoor condition wearing such PPE and have to endure inhaling all the carbon monoxide coming from the vehicle exhaust probably it is not a pleasant experience for the vaccinators to work under , not sure if that could induce more error rate. Vaccinees can help monitoring the situation.
The second case in Mitec, the vaccinator was confronted immediately but her knee-jerk reaction and attitude (saying she can give another jab if not happy) triggered more unhappiness. Due to the careful observation and vigilance of Mr Tan, although this was an unhappy event, but he ensured that he got his real jab.
The third case in BACC, the vaccinated person also reminded the vaccinator that he/she was showing him the empty bottle. This could be purely a honest mistake by the vaccinator, but further mistake had been prevented due to Ariff's intervention, and in the end he got his real jab.
The incident claims about empty jab have been increasing because it probably had really occured in reality due to vaccinators' occasional mistake or negligence or both sides did not follow the SOP.
Surely after the news report about the 3 incidents I mentioned (one was even provided with a video evidence), this has further eroded the public confidence and get the public more suspicious about themselves getting empty jab.... i wouldn't doubt it for myself, because i could see how the vaccine medium injected into my arm, before and after.
The latest incidents are probably driven by real events, but also led to a lot more conspiracy stories about some vaccinators purposely did this in order to sell the vaccine behind the scene.
The government should rally all the PPV staffs taking serious matters about these incidents and the doubts/distrust in public mind. If both the vaccinators and the vaccinees all follow the SOP , it could hardly have any lingering doubt that what the person received is the real shot because one can see it in front of his/her eyes.
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