Exactly 21 days later, the first 6 frontliners including Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah have completed their vaccination protocol when they got their second jab today. All six were inoculated with Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines at Putrajaya.
Malaysia aims to vaccinate at least 70% of the population to form herd immunity. As of this morning, 346,508 individuals have received their first dose and over 5.7 million Malaysians have registered for the immunisation program.
Malaysia will begin using Sinovac vaccines from tomorrow and Khairy Jamaluddin will be the first to receive the jab to prove that it’s safe. Both Sinovac and Pfizer vaccines require two doses but the Sinovac vaccine has a shorter interval of 14 days between jabs.
According to Dr Noor Hisham, it is vital for recipients to receive their second dose to significantly increase antibody production in order to efficiently gain long-term immunity against the virus. For Pfizer’s Comirnaty vaccine, the efficacy will show from the 12th day after dispensing the first dose and the efficacy level will reach up to 89% between the 14th and 21st day. He said this is the ideal time for the second dose to be dispensed. However, the long-term efficacy of the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine remained unknown as the clinical research were conducted with two doses within a period of 19 to 42 days.
At the moment, Malaysia is currently in Phase 1 of the immunisation programme which targets to vaccinate 500,000 frontliners. Phase 2 which will cover the elderly, people with chronic diseases and people with disability, will begin in April 2021.
The vaccination is offered for free to everyone in Malaysia including both citizens and non-citizens. If you haven’t registered, you can sign up via the MySejahtera app, through the official vaksincovid.gov.my website or call-in at 1-800-888-828.
The government is also looking for volunteers to help out in the immunisation programme which will be conducted at over 600 locations throughout the country. Both medical and general volunteers are required. If you’re interested, you can register at Myvac.com.my.
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