Vaccines in Post-Covid-19 Era

In collaboration with UTAR Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM), UTAR Centre for Economic Studies (CES), Centre for Cancer Research (CCR), and Centre for Research on Communicable Diseases (CRCD) organised a webinar titled Vaccines in the Post-COVID-19 era: What Have We learned During the COVID-19 Pandemic? on 28 July 2022 via Zoom. The webinar aimed to educate participants with knowledge pertaining to the development of vaccines and their acceptance among the global population. The webinar saw the participation of more than 40 participants.

Several speakers were invited to share their studies and inputs on the matter. Among the speakers were Dr Abram Wagner from the University of Michigan, Aaron Bradin from the University of Michigan and Dr Harapan from Syiah Kuala University. Invited to speak on Malaysia’s policy and its implication was Dr Niazlin Mohd Taib from Universiti Putra Malaysia. The webinar was moderated by FAM academic Dr Yogambigai Rajamoorthy.

Dr Wagner explaining the time it takes to develop a vaccine

Dr Wagner started by explaining the development of vaccines over the years. According to him, there are five phases involved in the development of vaccines and each phase roughly takes about 30 months. “With COVID-19, however, we were able to condense the timeline. There was a fast reload of vaccine because we were able to discover the protein interactions and it only took a couple of months for us to sequence the virus and look at the spike of protein on sars-cov-2,” he explained.

He also spoke about the uptake of vaccines among high-income, upper-middle-income, lower-middle-income and low-income groups; limits to international cooperation and vaccine hesitancy from the global perspective. On a positive note, he mentioned that there was an explosion in the use of next-generation technology, an increased momentum in vaccine manufacturing and expanded use of vaccines.

Mr Bradin addressing vaccine hesitancy among Americans before the emergence of COVID-19

Mr Bradin talked about the distribution of COVID-19 in America and the initial vaccination uptake among US citizens on micro and macro levels. Speaking of booster vaccination, he explained that the booster uptake was rather slow and that less than one-third of the American population have received the booster dose. He ended his session by explaining the factors of vaccine hesitancy among the US population. He said, “Sex, geographical location and socioeconomic factors are strong predictors of vaccine hesitancy.”

Dr Harapan displaying the number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia

Dr Harapan began his session by stating that the pandemic was not over. He then showed the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia as of 27 July 2022. He also spoke about vaccine coverage in Indonesia; vaccine acceptance among Indonesians and the types of vaccines administered in Indonesia. He explained that vaccine acceptance was relatively low in Indonesia and the booster dose administered to the public was low. “A study showed that the antibodies in the human body would decrease over time regardless of age and gender. Hence, a booster dose is needed to replenish the antibodies. However, the acceptance rate for the booster vaccine is low among Indonesians. Only 56.3% is willing to receive the booster shot,” he explained.  Speaking of childhood vaccination, he said, “The coverage of complete basic immunisation has significantly dropped in Indonesia since the start of the pandemic, from 84.2% in 2020 to 79.6% in 2021.”

Dr Niazlin explaining the effects of COVID-19 among children and youth

Dr Niazlin, in her talk, highlighted the timeline of COVID-19 occurrence in Malaysia, the first case of COVID-19 detected in Malaysia, the implementation of Movement Control Order, Conditional Movement Control Order and Recovery Movement Control Order in Malaysia, and the daily trends of COVID-19 cases in Malaysia. In addition, she also talked about the effects of COVID-19 on Malaysia’s economy; the effects of COVID-19 on the tourism industry; COVID-19 impacts on unemployment, and the effect of COVID-19 on mental health. Last but not least, she explained the initiatives provided by the government and their benefits.

From left: Dr Harapan, Mr Bradin, Dr Wagner, Dr Niazlin and Dr Yogambigai

The webinar ended with a Q&A and photography session.