KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4 — The government has approved the use of heterologous Covid-19 vaccines for booster dose recipients, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said.

"We are allowing heterologous vaccination where we mix the vaccines for their booster dose, set to roll out this month.

"Studies on its safety have been done and we’ve been assured that it is safe to be administered,” he said during Parliament today.

Heterologous vaccination here refers to the regimes where a second, booster vaccination takes place with a different type of vaccine than the first vaccination.

Malaysia had used vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Sinovac for its vaccination programme.

Khairy said the The Special Committee for Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) had met last week and decided to move ahead with mixing booster shots.

He said the director of the Institute for Clinical Research (ICR) Dr Kalaiarasu M. Peariasamy had assured JKJAV that booster doses are safe and thus they will approve it.

He did not elaborate whether the individual can choose which booster shot they want to take. 

The government is planning to roll out booster shots this month for those who have been fully vaccinated beginning with the high-risk groups.