Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has once again reminded the public that adult recipients of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine that didn’t take the booster dose will have their fully vaccinated status revoked. This policy which also applies to senior citizens regardless of their original vaccine was first announced back in December.
At that time, the deadline that the minister mentioned was a mere “by February 2022”. During today’s press conference, Khairy has confirmed that the implementation will take place on 1 March 2022.
On the said date, any adult Sinovac recipients and senior citizens that have yet to take their booster shot will see their digital vaccination certificate in MySejahtera changes colour from yellow to white. This is being done to indicate that they have not been fully vaccinated.
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During the same press conference, Khairy has also revealed that there are 3.5 million Sinovac recipients and 1 million senior citizens out there that have yet to obtain their booster shots. In regards to that, the government will be offering its leftovers Sinovac stock very soon to cater for those who are really reluctant to take either Pfizer or AstraZeneca as booster shots.
This is even though two universities in Hong Kong have found that the third dose of the Sinovac vaccine does not provide enough protective antibody to Sinovac recipients. However, further details regarding the Sinovac booster distribution under the national program will be announced at a later date according to Khairy.
(Source: MoH / Twitter, Facebook – [starts at 19:38 mark].)
