Covid-19: M'sia has enough vaccines for teens, booster shots, says Khairy

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia has a sufficient supply of Covid-19 vaccines for its immunisation programme for teenagers as well as its booster shot plan, says Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

“As of now, the supply of vaccines for teenagers and the booster programme is adequate. We will be announcing the details of the booster shot programme in the next week or two. But as far as supply is concerned, we have enough,” said Khairy at a press conference after observing the immunisation programme for students at SMK Putrajaya Precinct 8 (1) here on Monday (Sept 20).

The immunisation programme for adolescents had started in Sarawak on Sept 8 and Labuan on Sept 11.

On Monday, teenagers in Putrajaya, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Kedah, Perlis and Pahang started receiving their Covid-19 jabs.

Some 3.2 million teenagers in the country aged from 12 to 17 years old are expected to be involved in the immunisation programme.

The government has also announced that it will be giving Covid-19 vaccine booster shots to frontliners and the elderly once the mass immunisation coverage has reached 80% of the adult population nationwide.

On the single-dose CanSino vaccine, Khairy said the government will be monitoring its usage in other countries on whether there is need to implement booster shots.

“CanSino had submitted to the NPRA (National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency) on the need for booster doses after six months.

“We will monitor other countries that use CanSino. If they too are using booster doses for CanSino, we will consider it as well.

“One positive thing is that we have a CanSino factory in the country, so supply won’t be an issue,” said Khairy.