KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 ― The intervals between the first and second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine is set at 12 weeks, said Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin.

In a tweet, he said that the 12 week interval is in line with recommendations given by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and is currently being practiced in the United Kingdom.

"Dosing interval for the AstraZeneca vaccine in the opt-in programme is set at 12 weeks. This is in line with WHO recommendations and is current practice in the UK,” he said.

The Rembau MP added that the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee (JKJAVMY) will also review applications sent in requesting for shorter intervals on a case to case basis.

"@JKJAVMY will review applications for shorter intervals on a case by case basis e.g. students going abroad,” he added in his tweet.

Registration for the AstraZeneca vaccine opened on May 2 to 268,000 people in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor on a "first click and first serve” basis via the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee (JKJAV) website.

The AstraZeneca vaccines are available via separate appointments only, as opposed to the NIP — which currently prohibits registrants to choose between the Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinovac vaccines used in the programme.

For future rollouts of the AstraZeneca vaccine, Khairy said Malaysia was expecting the arrival of some 1.1 million doses this month via the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access or Covax.

This is followed by another 610,000 doses from AstraZeneca itself in June, 410,000 doses in July and 1.2 million doses in August and September respectively.