Ministry of Health Malaysia has announced that the CanSino Bio COVID-19 vaccine has received the green light to be used for heterologous (mix-and-match) boosters. Fully vaccinated adults who wish to get CanSino as their preferred booster jab will be able to book via MySejahtera very soon.
According to the table issued by the COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF), the CanSino Bio vaccines can be administered to individuals who have been fully vaccinated with Sinovac and CanSino Bio at least three months ago. Also known as Convidecia, it uses adenovirus-based viral vector vaccine technology and it was seen as a change changer since it only requires one jab instead of two to be fully vaccinated. This makes it the practical option to vaccinate residents in rural and hard to reach areas. For individuals fully vaccinated with other vaccine types, Pfizer and AstraZeneca remain the default recommendation for boosters.
As Malaysia moves into the “transition to endemic” phase on 1st April, the Ministry of Health has urged all senior citizens to get their boosters as quickly as possible. Out of 97.5% fully vaccinated adults, only 65.8% have received their boosters so far. This leaves approximately 7.5 million adults unboosted in Malaysia.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin shared recently there are 835,000 senior citizens and 2.1 million Sinovac recipients who have not gotten their COVID-19 booster shot. Although the healthcare utilisation for COVID-19 cases remains at moderate levels, there’s an upward trend in COVID-19 deaths with data showing unboosted senior citizens having a significantly higher risk of death if they contracted COVID-19.
Senior citizens (all vaccine brands) and all adult Sinovac recipients must get their booster by 31st March 2022 in order to retain their fully vaccinated status on MySejahtera on 1st April. They can book their vaccine appointment directly via the MySejathera app.
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