Booster jabs discussed, KJ set to make announcement

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is among one of the countries weighing in on the need for booster jabs against the fast spreading Covid-19 Delta variant, despite World Health Organisation’s (WHO) call for a moratorium at least until the end of September to favour those still unvaccinated.

The Special Committee on Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) in Malaysia had discussed the topic of booster jabs during a meeting recently.

Health Minister and JKJAV co-chair Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba confirmed this when contacted yesterday, saying that National Covid19 Immunisation Programme coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin is set to make an announcement soon.

In Singapore, an expert committee on Covid-19 vaccines is also discussing the need for booster shots.

Some countries like Indonesia, Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have already rolled out their booster shot programmes. Others such as Cambodia, Britain and France are slated to start soon.

Due to the more contagious Delta variant, Indonesia started giving a third shot of the vaccine to its health workers following the deaths of hundreds of frontliners over the past two months, many of whom had been fully vaccinated.

According to reports, the programme, which started in late July, will dispense 1.5 million shots of the Moderna vaccine to frontliners, many of whom had completed the two-dose regimen of another vaccine.

Russia launched a re-vaccination programme last month, offering booster shots for people fully immunised more than six months ago or more.

Cambodia will also begin offering booster shots, switching between Astrazeneca and Chinese-made vaccines, to give better protection against Covid-19 for between 500,000 and one million frontliners.

It was reported last month that Thailand plans to give booster shots of MRNA vaccines to its medical personnel who were fully immunised with Sinovac.

And as early as May, it was made known that the UAE and Bahrain will offer a third Sinopharm shot to people who had already gotten two doses of the same vaccine.

Earlier this month, the UAE expanded its scope for booster shots eligibility to include anyone fully inoculated, with people considered as high risk individuals to be eligible three months after their second vaccine dose and for others, six months after.

Over in Europe, starting next month, Britain will offer booster shots to 32 million residents with 2,000 pharmacies set to deliver the programme.

France, Germany and Sweden are among those that have announced that vulnerable groups such as the elderly and immunocompromised will be offered a booster shot as early as next month.

Meanwhile, Pfizer and its partner Biontech have applied for approval from regulators in the United States and European countries to give a booster dose following completion of its two-dose regimen vaccine.