As vaccination rates begin to plateau in many countries across the globe, particularly in those with a steady supply of vaccines, we begin to see governments taking harsher measures against those who choose to remain unvaccinated. On Monday, Austria essentially imposed a lockdown for the unvaccinated. In Singapore, unvaccinated residents who catch COVID-19 will have to pay for the hospitalisation costs. In Malaysia, last month Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that the government plans to “continue to make life difficult” for those who continue to refuse vaccination, although we have yet to see new measures imposed for this segment of the population. But these recent developments in other countries also beg the question: does our high vaccination rate warrant stricter measures for the unvaccinated? Here to share his thoughts on this is Assistant Professor Dr Farhan Rusli, public health medicine specialist from the International Islamic University Malaysia.

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