Harapan urges govt to set clear rollout strategy for booster shots

 

Pakatan Harapan's health committee has urged the Health Ministry to set a clear rollout strategy for Covid-19 vaccine booster shots.

“The federal government must set clear criteria and implementation strategy to ensure smooth rollout especially when we are expecting up to 8.75 million people who will receive the third, or booster, dose.

“The rollout needs to be properly planned, specific, and well-coordinated among all stakeholders including private general practitioners (GPs) who are tasked to handle booster shots for frontliners and senior citizens,” Harapan said in a statement today.

Additionally, the committee echoed concerns raised by the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) about the lack of engagement by state health departments on the rollout of the booster programme.

“This should not be the case as lessons should have been learnt from past mistakes including involving the private GPs only at the very last minute,” said Harapan.

With regard to the vaccine booster rollout strategy, Harapan is demanding that the Health Ministry:

1. Establish a clear timeline for implementation across the country
2. Establish clear definitions and categories of those eligible
   
3. Devise strategic efforts to educate those eligible on the third-dose or booster's importance
4. Engage private GPs as soon as possible
5. Approve heterologous vaccination with the booster doses as soon as possible

According to data compiled by the website Our World in Data, Malaysia has the 20th highest Covid-19 vaccination rate in the world.

Clinical guidelines

The country is said to have fully vaccinated 66.84 percent of its population, putting it just ahead of countries like Sweden (66.73 percent), Japan (66.37 percent), and the UK (66.37 percent).

In September, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said clinical guidelines for booster shots and third doses were still being drafted but remained on track for implementation in October.

He also drew a distinction between “third doses” and “booster shots”.

The minister explained a “third dose” is administered to those for whom two doses are not enough to elicit sufficient immune response against Covid-19.

A "booster shot" refers to additional vaccine doses administered to people who already had sufficient immune response after their primary vaccination but the immunity has since waned over the months.

Hence, they need the booster to stimulate the immune system and ensure continued protection against the disease.

Sarawak began administering third doses and booster shots of the Covid-19 vaccine last week. - Mkini