Ministry of Health (MoH) has decided to expand its COVID-19 vaccine booster dose rollout program to include individuals that were administrated with the vaccine from Sinovac. The program originally covers high-risk individuals including frontliners, senior citizens, and those with comorbidities that have received Pfizer-BioNTech’s Comirnaty vaccine.
Sinovac recipients will also be administered with the Comirnaty vaccine as their booster dose. Despite being rolled out on an off-label basis, it has received the green light from the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA).
In addition to that, the Institute for Clinical Research Malaysia (ICR) will also observe the mix-and-match booster dose administration in order to learn more about its efficacy and side effects. The time gap between the second dose of the Sinovac vaccine and the Comirnaty booster dose is at least three months, according to MoH.
The phased rollout will take place from tomorrow, 22 October onwards starting with elderlies aged 60 years and above. Eligible individuals will receive their booster appointment date through MySejahtera or SMS for those who do not use the app.
To be managed by MoH non-profit subsidiary, ProtectHealth Corporation, the booster dose will be administrated by private medical practitioners. As the booster dose rollout is still under the purview of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK), it is being made available on a voluntary basis and free of charge.
(Source: KKM / Facebook. Image: Sinovac, Jesse Paul / Unsplash.)
