KUALA LUMPUR: A third dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine triggers a 25-fold jump in antibody levels against the Omicron variant from six to 154, said Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
The results, said the health director-general, were based on laboratory studies using the blood of 20 people, who were either double-jabbed three weeks or triple-jabbed a month ago.
In a Tweet, he cited another research where he said the fatality rate dropped by 90 per cent in comparison to those who received two doses and three doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
"Research has shown death cases reduced by 90 per cent for those who received booster shots or third-doses (compared to those who have not) for more than 840,000 people aged 50-years-old and above."
The mentioned research concluded that participants who received a booster at least five months after a second Pfizer vaccine had 90 per cent lower mortality rate due to Covid-19 than participants who did not receive a booster.
In view of this, Dr Noor Hisham reminded the rakyat to wear their face masks correctly and to turn up for their booster appointments to fight the new Covid-19 Omicron variant.
He stressed that the two most effective tools available to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, including the Variant of Concern (VOC), Omicron are none other than wearing a mask correctly and taking the booster dose.
He also revealed infographics which showed that risks of catching Covid-19 were 225 times lower for people following SOPs.
The infographics, provided by the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation, stated that the risk of infection is at 90 per cent if two people without masks are sitting 3m away from each other for "a few minutes" but the risk is at 0.4 per cent if two people are wearing well-fitting FFP2 masks even if they are sitting 1.5m away after "an hour".
The risk of infection is at 30 per cent if both individuals are wearing surgical masks and are sitting 1.5m away for an hour.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has since said that the Omicron variant is now present in 57 countries.
The first Omicron case in Malaysia was detected on Dec 2 involving a 19-year-old South African student who arrived on Nov 19, a week before the strain was declared as a VOC by the WHO.