KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 – Senior citizens aged 60 and older must get Covid-19 boosters by February next year to retain their fully vaccinated status on MySejahtera, regardless of the type of vaccine taken for primary inoculation, Khairy Jamaluddin said today.
The health minister added that this requirement has also been extended to adults aged 18 years and above who received two doses of Sinovac.
“If you do not do so, your status will be switched to the white label, which means that you’re not fully vaccinated on your MySejahtera,” Khairy told a press conference in Parliament today.
“If these groups of individuals still do not receive booster doses by February 2022, their vaccination status will be turned into “incomplete” and such individuals will not be eligible for privileges extended to recipients fully vaccinated against Covid-19.”
Malaysia requires vaccine passes for entry into public places like restaurants and shopping centres.
Khairy added that the Technical Working Group is currently discussing the possibility of shortening the interval for booster shots and will inform the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) in the near future.
All adults aged 18 and above are eligible for Covid-19 boosters, with CITF recommending Pfizer boosters regardless of which vaccine was taken for the primary course, while AstraZeneca is listed as an alternative booster. Those initially vaccinated with Sinovac are eligible for a third dose three months after the second, while Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccine recipients can get a booster six months after their second dose.
The government will also reopen mega PPVs, starting in the Klang Valley, to expedite the booster campaign. As of December 14, about 17 per cent of adults in Malaysia have received additional Covid-19 vaccine doses.
Khairy cited studies from Austria, South Africa, and Hong Kong that found reduced protection from Covid-19 vaccines against the Omicron variant of concern, of which two imported cases have already been detected in Malaysia.
A study by the University of Hong Kong released Tuesday found that Sinovac’s vaccine did not provide sufficient antibodies to neutralise Omicron, based on a group of 25 people who received two doses of the inactivated vaccine. In a separate group of 25 people double-vaccinated with Pfizer, five showed neutralising ability against the new coronavirus variant.
The health minister also cited research by a scientist from Japan’s Kyoto University that found Omicron was 4.2 times more transmissible than the Delta strain and that Omicron, a heavily mutated virus, showed greater ability in escaping immunity induced by vaccines or infection.
“All these studies indicate that those who completed primary vaccination or had natural immunity from infection may not have sufficient protection against Omicron.”
Singapore has similarly mandated booster shots by December 31 for those who received two doses of either the Sinovac or Sinopharm vaccines to maintain their fully vaccinated status from January 1, 2022, onwards.
Currently, Singapore considers a person to be fully vaccinated after receiving two doses of mRNA vaccines, either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna.
However, Singapore’s Health Minister Ong Ye Kung reportedly said yesterday that a person’s fully vaccinated status – regardless of the type of vaccine initially taken – will only be valid for a certain period and that a third dose will be required to maintain that status.
“We need to treat Covid-19 primary vaccination as a three-dose regime,” Ong was quoted saying, according to Today.
