KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 – ProtectHealth Corporation has immediately banned walk-ins for Covid-19 booster shots at vaccination sites (PPVs) due to overcrowding over the past few days.
The general public instead must call the PPVs they wish to visit to get onto their back-up list to replace any no-shows, if they do not want to wait for appointments to be offered on MySejahtera.
A list of PPVs is available on ProtectHealth’s website. Just key in your state, city, and postcode to retrieve a list of PPVs near your residence and their contact details.
“No walk-in to offsites. Appointment only. If don’t want wait for appointment, call the nearest PPV,” ProtectHealth CEO Anas Alam Faizli told CodeBlue today.
Offsite PPVs are centres where the provider handles the entire venue and vaccination process. A list of offsite PPVs can be found here.
Over the weekend, several PPVs, such as Emporis in Kota Damansara, Selangor, were filled with people waiting for their jabs, after Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced last December 28 a shortened booster interval period for AstraZeneca and Pfizer recipients from six to three months from the second dose.
Dr Mahesh Appannan, head of data at the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC), said last December 31 that more than 1.5 million booster jab appointments were sent out this week.
However, at least one person has complained about not receiving SMS notifications of Covid-19 booster appointments given on MySejahtera.
A Malaysian man in his mid-40s, who declined to be named, said he received a January 7 appointment on MySejahtera for his booster shot at a private general practitioner (GP) clinic in Taman Desa here, but did not get an SMS notification about his appointment.
“I just felt like checking MySejahtera last Saturday,” the man told CodeBlue. “So I guess it was providence.”
About 28.3 per cent of the adult population in Malaysia have received third coronavirus vaccine doses. Booster doses are currently available only for those aged 18 and above, with MOH recommending Pfizer as the main booster option for all, and AstraZeneca as an alternative.
The United States’ Food and Drug Administration yesterday expanded eligibility for Pfizer vaccine boosters from adults and those aged 16 to 17, to younger adolescents aged 12 to 15. A third Pfizer vaccine dose was also authorised for children aged five to 11 with weakened immune systems.
