Some recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 have received appointments for their second doses that come sooner than the recommended dosing interval, claimed Skudai assemblyperson Tan Hong Pin.
He said he has received several complaints from people whose appointments have been scheduled just three weeks after they received their first dose. All cases involve the vaccine administration centre at Persada Johor International Convention Centre.
In contrast, the dosing interval recommended worldwide, including Malaysia, ranges from four weeks to 12 weeks.
Showing screenshots taken from the government’s vaccination website to back his claims, Tan claimed one complainant, identified by his pseudonym “Mr Chin” received his first dose on June 7.
When he checked the website a few days later, he was surprised to find his next appointment was fixed for 21 days later, on June 28.
However, when this was checked on the MySejahtera app, there is no mention of any date for Mr Chin’s second dose.
Tan showed screenshots for three such complaints – two who received their first dose on June 7 and are scheduled to receive their second shots on June 28, and one who received the first dose on June 8 and is scheduled to receive the second on June 29.
“I believe these are not isolated cases. There could be some serious bug causing havoc to the centralised Covid-19 Implementation Task Force (CITF) vaccine appointment system, again. Should Mr Chin turn up for his second dose appointment on June 28?
“I call upon Minister Khairy Jamaluddin to address the matter immediately to allay public concerns. Is this not another failure of the now infamous centralised vaccine appointment system?
“Let me remind the minister that many senior citizens struggle against the appointment system on a daily basis to get their appointments right. Many feel dejected and demoralised after their appointments ran into multiple problems.
“As elected representatives, we do our best to help them navigate the maze of MySejahtera because we want everyone to come on board and get them vaccinated.
“Vaccines save lives, we simply cannot tolerate hiccups one after another,” Tan said in a statement released yesterday.
Malaysiakini has contacted the CITF for comment and is waiting for its response.
Previously, the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency had approved AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine for use in Malaysia. The approved dosing interval is four to 12 weeks, which is in line with international norms for the vaccine.
In practice, the dosing interval used in the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for this vaccine is 12 weeks. For comparison, the interval is two weeks for the Sinovac vaccine, and three weeks for the Pfizer vaccine.
The strategy of extending the dosing interval is used to get the first dose to as many people as possible.
For the AstraZeneca vaccine, this is also associated with increased efficacy from 55.1 percent if doses are administered less than six weeks apart, to 81.3 percent if the doses are administered 12 or more weeks apart.
However, the government is considering shortening the interval in view of the spread of Covid-19 variants of concern, after some studies suggested that two doses may be required to confer adequate protection.
People can also apply to shorten the dosing intervals if there is urgency, such as university students who are being recalled to their campuses abroad to resume their studies. - Mkini
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