10 December 2020 – MOH participated in the International Health Regulation (IHR) Exercise Crystal 2020 involving Member States, areas and territories of the WHO Western Pacific Region. The participants included representatives from the Disease Control Division, Medical Development Division, Pharmacy Division and National Public Health Laboratory.

IHR Exercise Crystal has been conducted in the WHO Western Pacific Region annually since 2008 as an IHR communications and assessment exercise involving IHR National IHR Focal Points (IHR NFPs) and the WHO IHR Contact Point. The exercise is designed to test communications functions of IHR NFPs including information-sharing, risk assessment, and decision-making during a simulated public health event.

This year, the scenario of Exercise Crystal focused on potential adverse events following immunization (AEFI) with a fictitious pandemic vaccine for a novel respiratory virus that has caused a global pandemic. The scenario was very apt as the world grapples with an ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and with over one hundred COVID-19 vaccine candidates being developed currently at an unprecedented pace to address the global crisis.

Given the potential for global consequences, pandemic vaccine safety events – whether real or coincidental – need to be managed quickly, transparently and coordinated with the global public health community. The Exercise Crystal 2020 succeeded in exploring key issues, and identifying strengths and areas needing improvement on management of pandemic vaccine safety events.

Rujuk : FB CPRC Kebangsaan