Webinar Series on COVID-19 vaccine: Jointly organized by Malaysian Society of Infection Control and Infectious Diseases (MyICID) & Institute for Clinical Research (ICR), NIH Speaker: Dr.Benedict Sim Lim Heng is a Consultant Infectious Disease Physician at the Sungai Buloh Hospital, Ministry of Health Malaysia.

1. Vaccines in COVID-19
Dr. Benedict Sim
Infectious Disease Physician

2. Disclaimers
•This slide was prepared for the Webinar Series
on COVID-19 session on 7th April 2021, by Dr.
Benedict Sim, Infectious Disease Physician,
Sungai Buloh Hospital, Malaysia.
•This is intended to share within healthcare
professionals, not for public.
•Kindly acknowledge “Clinical Updates in
COVID-19 http://www.nih.gov.my/covid-19”
should you plan to share the information
obtained from this slide with your colleagues.
Jointly organized by Malaysian Society of Infection Control and Infectious Diseases (MyICID) & Institute for Clinical Research, NIH
2

3. Content/Outline
1. Are vaccines really needed? Is covid-19 a
hyped-up disease? Let nature take its course. Isn’t
it another flu?
2. What is the efficacy of the vaccines? Can it
prevent against getting infected? How long will
they last?
3. Who should we prioritize for vaccines?
4. What about the impact of viral variants?
3

4. 4

5. Ranges of mortality
by country:
Yemen – 19.8%
Singapore 0.05%
5

6. Case fatality rates – what it
doesn’t tell us
• Death lags behind
• Cause of death classified differently
• Death but not tested
• Died at home after discharged
• Indirect cause of death
• Does not take into account the
morbidity of covid 19
• The perspective of the patient
6

7. 7

8. 8

9. 9

10. 10

11. 11

12. 12

13. Not the same for everyone…..
% deterioration
<40 yrs NO Comorbid 0.48
<40 yrs + Comorbid 4.15
40-60 yrs NO Comorbid 4.95
40-60 yrs + Comorbid 9.36
>60 yrs + NO Comorbid 6.21
>60 yrs + Comorbid 16.19
13

14. 14

15. 15

16. 16

17. 17

18. 18

19. 19

20. 20

21. Is the vaccine
effective against
COVID-19?
21

22. 22

23. 23

24. 24

25. 25

26. 26

27. 27

28. 3 levels of protection
•The vaccinee
•Family
•Community (herd immunity)
28

29. 29

30. CanSino
30

31. CanSino
31

32. CanSino
32

33. Coronavac
(Sinovac)
33

34. 34

35. 35

36. Oxford-AstraZeneca
36

37. 37

38. Not the same for everyone…..
% deterioration
<40 yrs NO Comorbid 0.48
<40 yrs + Comorbid 4.15
40-60 yrs NO Comorbid 4.95
40-60 yrs + Comorbid 9.36
>60 yrs + NO Comorbid 6.21
>60 yrs + Comorbid 16.19
38

39. Priority groups (adapted from Green
Book, Public Health England, Chapter
14a, Covid-19
39

40. COVID-19 variants
40

41. Potential Consequences of
Emerging Variants
41

42. 42

43. 43

44. Summary of Potential Implications
for mRNA Vaccine Efficacy
44

45. Summary
•Do not look solely at case fatality rates when
assessing the clinical impact of COVID-19
•Naturally allowing COVID-19 to run its course is dangerous
•Current vaccines are effective against deaths, severe
disease and even transmission
•Prioritize the elderly and those with comorbidities
•Not out of the woods yet despite vaccination
•Viral variants are of concern – but current vaccines protect
against severe disease
45

46. Thank you
46