KUCHING: Sarawak will be the first state to administer Covid-19 vaccine booster shots to priority groups, beginning next month.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said at the moment, they were still in the process of preparing the clinical guidelines on the implementation of the booster dose programme.
Among matters being looked at is whether a recipient will receive the same type as their first two doses or they will receive a different but suitable type.
Senior citizens and people with serious underlying medical conditions would be the initial target group under the ministry's booster dose vaccination programme.
"We will focus on the high-risk groups aged 60 and above as well as those with serious comorbidities. This is also in line with practices in other countries, including the United States.
"This is because they (the high-risk groups) make up the majority who suffer from serious Covid-19 symptoms in hospitals, especially those who might require treatment in intensive care units.
"Besides, we do not want to use the resources (of vaccines) that we have for those who do not need them," he said at a press conference after the Special Meeting of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme and Pandemic Management with the Sarawak State Disaster Management Committee, at Wisma Bapa Malaysia, Petra Jaya, here, today.
The announcement comes amid a worrying increase in Delta variant cases detected in Sarawak despite the state recording a high vaccination rate - as of Sept 25, 64.91 per cent of the population in the state have been fully vaccinated.
According to data from the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF), a majority of the fully-vaccinated population in Sarawak had received the Sinovac vaccine.
Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii had on Sept 14 said about 77.7 percent of fully vaccinated people in Sarawak received Sinovac, followed by Pfizer-BioNTech (18.7 percent) and AstraZeneca-Oxford (2.4 percent).
A recent study in Thailand showed Sinovac's efficacy against Delta dropped to 48.33 per cent six months after the second dose. A study in the United Kingdom showed that protection from Pfizer declined to 74 per cent after five to six months and it dropped to 67 per cent after four to five months for AstraZeneca.
Meanwhile, Khairy said the ministry is working to increase the state's health capacity to ensure that immediate action could be taken effectively should there be a sudden spike in serious cases in Sarawak.
"For that, we will supply 118 units of ventilators and 1,008 oxygen cylinders that will be sent by a Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) aircraft this Tuesday.
"We have also added ICU beds to the current 10 beds in Sibu, and we will add another 20. It is up to the Sarawak government to determine where it will be located."
On immunisation for undocumented migrants which is estimated to be around two to four million in the country, Khairy said it had been implemented.
"We have actually implemented outreach programmes throughout the country with several non-governmental organisations such as Mercy Malaysia and the Malaysian Red Crescent Society.
"This is our policy. Anyone who comes to the vaccination centres, including people who do not have documents will be vaccinated and the outreach programme is still ongoing until now," he said without disclosing the number of undocumented migrants who had been inoculated against Covid-19.