New feature on MySejahtera for pregnant, breastfeeding women soon

 

There will be a new feature coming to the MySejahtera app this week, which will let pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers identify themselves as such so that they can be given appointments only for the vaccines recommended for them.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin also advised pregnant women to consult their own doctors before deciding on whether to get vaccinated or not.

However, he noted, the recommendation is for pregnant women to get the Pfizer vaccine when they are between week 14 and week 33 of their pregnancy.

“We will make the recommended vaccines for pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers available to them. So the advisory right now is that Pfizer can be given to both women who are pregnant as well as breastfeeding mothers while AstraZeneca can be given to lactating mothers.

“The instructions have been given that if you are lactating or breastfeeding, you can receive both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines. If you are pregnant, for now, we will allocate you an appointment to get the Pfizer vaccine,” he explained.

Khairy was speaking at the weekly joint press conference today with Health Minister Dr Adham Baba on the latest updates for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP). It was held in Putrajaya and broadcast online.

Adham said genome sequencing conducted from May 17 to 23 found 13 new variants of concern (VOC) cases in Malaysia.

There were a total of 12 new cases of the B.1.351 variant – which was first detected in South Africa – in Kedah, Perlis, Penang, Selangor and Johor.

The remaining case was of the B.1.617.1 variant, first detected in India. Adham said the patient was a Malaysian citizen who shared a flight with an Indian national.

Adham said one victim of the B.1.351 variant in Perlis had passed away while two others were in intensive care units (ICU) in Perlis and at the Sungai Buloh Hospital in Selangor. - Mkini