Covid-19: Bivalent vaccine could be available early next year

PETALING JAYA: The Covid-19 bivalent vaccine is likely to be available locally next year, says Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

“It was given conditional approval on Dec 14. Perhaps It will be available early next year,” Dr Noor Hisham said in a response to a Facebook query about when the vaccine would be available.

He advised the inquirer to get the Pfizer monovalent vaccine as a second booster shot.

Former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin said in October that Malaysia could receive its stock of bivalent vaccines in November.

“Malaysia has placed orders for the bivalent vaccine from Pfizer,” he told a press conference on Oct 31.

Khairy added that Malaysia had changed its existing order to the newer vaccines and no additional procurement was involved.

He advised those who fall in the high-risk category to take their second booster shots instead of waiting for the bivalent vaccine to arrive.

The bivalent vaccines provide protection against the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and the Omicron sub-variants such as BA.4 and BA.5, which were previously said to be vaccine-resistant.