KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 — Recipients of the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine who are not allowed to travel abroad can now get a Pfizer booster to help with travel restrictions, the Health Ministry said today.

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said Putrajaya is aware of these restrictions and wants to help the public by offering those affected a Pfizer booster shot.

"Germany, Iceland, Lithuania, Malta, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic are some countries who don’t accept Sinovac recipients.

"But you have nations like France who accept Sinovac recipients if they have been boosted by a Pfizer shot. So we have many variations here,” he said during his weekly press conference here.

"However, France will let you enter if you have been boosted by Pfizer. So in order to help those who are having difficulty with entering these nations we will offer them Pfizer as a booster shot upon request,” he added.

This comes after several countries in Europe refused to accept individuals who have been vaccinated with the Sinovac vaccine, causing difficulty in entering these countries.

There have been reports recently of Malaysians not able to enter Germany due to having the Sinovac vaccine.

Two Malaysian brothers were refused entry to Germany two weeks ago for only receiving the Sinovac vaccine as stated in their vaccination travel passports.

Khairy said the ministry did not know such restrictions would be applied when it decided to vaccinate the population with the Sinovac vaccine, and its opinion at the time was for the public to take whatever vaccines were available at the time.

Application for the optional Pfizer shots can be made through the MySejahtera app and details will be announced soon.