COVID-19 | The Health Ministry has extended the deadline for the elderly and Sinovac recipients to get a booster jab or risk losing their “fully vaccinated” status.
Originally set for Feb 28, the deadline has now been pushed back an extra month to March 31.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin made the announcement today.
“For those 18 years old and above who received a Sinovac primary vaccine and for those above 60 years old who received any kind of vaccine, you need to get a booster dose in order to maintain your ‘fully vaccinated’ status…
“From April 1, 2022 onwards; your vaccination status will change to become incomplete if you have yet to receive a booster jab,” he said.
Public spaces like restaurants and cinemas only admit fully vaccinated customers.
The efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines wanes over time and Sinovac, in particular, suffers a sharp drop in protection after three months.
Based on Malaysiakini’s analysis of the Health Ministry’s data, there are about 10 million people fully vaccinated with the Sinovac vaccine as of yesterday.
Some 2.6 million (35.81 percent) of them have yet to receive a booster shot.
However, the data may include adolescents, who are not yet eligible for booster shots and will not be losing their fully vaccinated status after the deadline.
Likewise, there are 3.3 million senior citizens who have been fully vaccinated but 925,984 (27.75 percent) of them have not gotten their booster shots.
There is overlap between those who stand to lose their fully vaccinated status through the age criteria and those who could lose the status through the Sinovac criteria.
This means the total number of people who could lose their fully vaccinated status is less than the sum of the two groups.
However, there is not enough publicly available data to ascertain the exact figure. - Mkini
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