KUCHING, Jan 5 ― Malaysians appear to be refusing to get a second Covid-19 booster shot with just 2 per cent of those eligible in the country having done so as of yesterday.
According to the KKMNow website, formerly CovidNow, Sarawak’s second booster vaccination rate mirrored the nation’s at 2 per cent.
Five states and territories recorded second booster vaccination rates above the national rate ― Kuala Lumpur (4.2 per cent), Putrajaya (4.2 per cent), Selangor (4.2 per cent), Negri Sembilan (2.1 per cent), and Melaka (2.1 per cent).
As of yesterday, 49.9 per cent of eligible Malaysians have been administered their first booster shot.
At 56.1 per cent, the first booster vaccination rate for Sarawak was slightly higher than the national rate.
Other states and territories that also recorded first booster vaccination rates above the national rate were Kuala Lumpur (70.3 per cent), Putrajaya (70.3 per cent), Selangor (70.3 per cent), Penang (61.2 per cent), Negeri Sembilan (58.8 per cent), Melaka (58.5 per cent), Johor (56.7 per cent), and Labuan (50.1 per cent).
On Monday, Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa called upon Malaysians to go for their second booster dose following the spike in Covid-19 cases in China.
She said individuals who had received their first booster dose more than six months ago ought to get a second booster dose.
She added that these individuals should not wait for the bivalent vaccine given that the existing monovalent vaccines remained effective in reducing serious Covid-19 symptoms and fatalities.
On December 29, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Pfizer-BioNTech’s bivalent vaccine is expected to arrive in the country by the end of this month.
The latest Covid-19 variant, which is a subvariant of Omicron BF.7, is reportedly driving the surge of infections in China.
This has prompted many countries, including Malaysia, to impose stricter standard operating procedures on travellers entering the country. ― Borneo Post
