Covid-19: Govt to encourage 'high-risk' group to take current booster stock

 

The government is looking at encouraging Malaysians to take Covid-19 vaccine booster shots for those vulnerable to infection.

However, Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said this will be using Malaysia’s existing stockpile of vaccines.

“Perhaps in a little while, the ministry may issue some directives for boosters, especially for those in the vulnerable groups.

“The vaccines (we have now) are not expired and the ones we have can still protect the people from any new Covid-19 variants out there,” he was quoted as saying by FMT.

Dzulkefly clarified to the media later that the boosters were not for the population at large, but were specific for high-risk groups such as the elderly and those with comorbidities.

Malaysia’s current stock of Covid-19 vaccines is still based on the formulation rolled out in the early days of the pandemic.

Last year, Covid-19 vaccines were updated to a bivalent formulation targeting the Omicron variant as well as the original strain.

This year’s formulation has been updated with a monovalent formulation based on the XBB.1.5 variant, which was the prevalent Omicron subvariant.

Both updated versions have not reached Malaysian shores.

Meanwhile, Dzulkefly advised the public to start wearing masks in crowded places again and to quarantine for five days if they become infected with Covid-19.

“Many will be out and about for holidays but don’t use that as an excuse to ignore the basic SOPs,” he said.

The number of reported Covid-19 cases in the country nearly doubled to 12,757 in the 49th Epidemiological Week from Dec 3-9 compared with 6,796 cases the previous week.

Health director-general Dr Muhammad Radzi Abu Hassan, however, said the majority of cases only had mild symptoms that did not require hospital treatment.