PETALING JAYA: As Covid-19 cases rise again, health minister Khairy Jamaluddin has urged Malaysians to take their booster vaccination shots.
“There are still 31.4% of you who haven’t received your first booster,” he said in a message to Malaysians ahead of the holiday weekend. “There are also 93.94% of you who have yet to receive your second booster.”
He encouraged high-risk individuals (those above 60 and those with serious medical conditions) to get a second booster shot six months after their first.
He said the ministry expected to see a rise in cases in the coming weeks from the highly-infectious Omicron BA.5 variant.
“Fully vaccinated individuals and even those who have had Covid-19 before can be reinfected with this variant,” he said. “Countries like Singapore, Portugal, the UK and many others are facing increasing hospital admissions because of BA.5.”
However, there were fewer Covid-19 deaths, especially among those aged 60 and above, in countries where citizens are being boosted (such as the United States and Israel), he said.
Khairy said the ministry would provide the antiviral drug Paxlovid for high-risk patients with mild to medium Covid-19 symptoms. No serious side effects had been reported among those who have been treated with Paxlovid, he said. - FMT
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