KUALA LUMPUR – Sinovac vaccine recipients who have not taken the required booster shot and have been infected with Covid-19 before will get to keep their vaccinated status for another three months.
In a post on MySejahtera’s Facebook account yesterday, the app’s administrators said that this same condition also applies to elderly individuals above the age of 60 years.
“The vaccinated status of recipients of the Sinovac vaccine and senior citizens 60 years and above, who have not received the booster dose but have been infected by Covid-19, will be excluded from revocation for a period of three months,” it said.
“However, these two groups listed need to take the booster dose immediately after recovery to avoid their fully vaccinated status from changing to incomplete vaccination,” it added.
They were also reminded that they can select the location and time for their booster appointments through the link for booking an appointment provided to them on the app.
On March 24, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin had revealed that over two million Sinovac recipients in Malaysia would lose their vaccinated status if they failed to get their booster shots by the March 31 deadline.
The Health Ministry had found that 2.09 million individuals who received Sinovac as their primary vaccine had not gotten their third dose at that time.
Previously on December 16, Khairy announced that full vaccination privileges would be withdrawn from Sinovac vaccine recipients, as well as those aged 60 and above, if they did not obtain a booster dose by February 28. The deadline was later moved to March 31.
The decision then was made based on guidance from the World Health Organisation, after studies indicated a reduced vaccine efficacy against the Covid-19 Omicron variant. – The Vibes, April 1, 2022