Vaccine justice and bioethical reflections of COVID-19 immunization in Malaysia
Malaysia has the highest infection rate in Southeast Asia, with over 1 million positive COVID-19 cases and over 8500 deaths. The National Immunization Programme, which began in late February 2021, had a particularly slow vaccination rate, with only 4% of the targeted group receiving vaccination in t...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI
2022
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| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/102574/ |
| _version_ | 1848863833129484288 |
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| author | Moorthy, Ravichandran S. Gill, Sarjit Selvadurai, Sivapalan Gurunathan, Angelina |
| author_facet | Moorthy, Ravichandran S. Gill, Sarjit Selvadurai, Sivapalan Gurunathan, Angelina |
| author_sort | Moorthy, Ravichandran |
| building | UPM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Malaysia has the highest infection rate in Southeast Asia, with over 1 million positive COVID-19 cases and over 8500 deaths. The National Immunization Programme, which began in late February 2021, had a particularly slow vaccination rate, with only 4% of the targeted group receiving vaccination in three months. The delay has sparked a lot of public debate and concern, especially in light of allegations of vaccine injustice, unclear prioritization, queue jumping by people in positions of power, and other aspects of the vaccination process. Using an interpretative social science approach, this paper examines the ethical issues that arise in Malaysia’s COVID-19 vaccination discourse, focusing on vaccine justice and the bioethical principle of ‘respect for autonomy’. The paper finds that despite several shortfalls in the immunization process, most Malaysians remain optimistic and support the government’s immunization initiatives. The paper contributes to the understanding that building public trust is critical to the success of the immunization programme. Health agencies should make more efforts to inform the public about the benefits and risks of vaccines, as well as the transparency of immunization processes, which will increase public trust in health systems. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T13:39:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | upm-102574 |
| institution | Universiti Putra Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T13:39:12Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | MDPI |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | upm-1025742023-07-20T03:49:54Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/102574/ Vaccine justice and bioethical reflections of COVID-19 immunization in Malaysia Moorthy, Ravichandran S. Gill, Sarjit Selvadurai, Sivapalan Gurunathan, Angelina Malaysia has the highest infection rate in Southeast Asia, with over 1 million positive COVID-19 cases and over 8500 deaths. The National Immunization Programme, which began in late February 2021, had a particularly slow vaccination rate, with only 4% of the targeted group receiving vaccination in three months. The delay has sparked a lot of public debate and concern, especially in light of allegations of vaccine injustice, unclear prioritization, queue jumping by people in positions of power, and other aspects of the vaccination process. Using an interpretative social science approach, this paper examines the ethical issues that arise in Malaysia’s COVID-19 vaccination discourse, focusing on vaccine justice and the bioethical principle of ‘respect for autonomy’. The paper finds that despite several shortfalls in the immunization process, most Malaysians remain optimistic and support the government’s immunization initiatives. The paper contributes to the understanding that building public trust is critical to the success of the immunization programme. Health agencies should make more efforts to inform the public about the benefits and risks of vaccines, as well as the transparency of immunization processes, which will increase public trust in health systems. MDPI 2022-10-06 Article PeerReviewed Moorthy, Ravichandran and S. Gill, Sarjit and Selvadurai, Sivapalan and Gurunathan, Angelina (2022) Vaccine justice and bioethical reflections of COVID-19 immunization in Malaysia. Sustainability, 14 (19). pp. 1-16. ISSN 2071-1050 https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12710/htm 10.3390/su141912710 |
| spellingShingle | Moorthy, Ravichandran S. Gill, Sarjit Selvadurai, Sivapalan Gurunathan, Angelina Vaccine justice and bioethical reflections of COVID-19 immunization in Malaysia |
| title | Vaccine justice and bioethical reflections of COVID-19 immunization in Malaysia |
| title_full | Vaccine justice and bioethical reflections of COVID-19 immunization in Malaysia |
| title_fullStr | Vaccine justice and bioethical reflections of COVID-19 immunization in Malaysia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Vaccine justice and bioethical reflections of COVID-19 immunization in Malaysia |
| title_short | Vaccine justice and bioethical reflections of COVID-19 immunization in Malaysia |
| title_sort | vaccine justice and bioethical reflections of covid-19 immunization in malaysia |
| url | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/102574/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/102574/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/102574/ |