KUCHING, April 1: Individuals losing their fully vaccinated status from today (April 1) due to the lack of third booster shot can still dine-in at restaurants and enter shopping malls, workplaces and places of worship.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said premises owners must ensure that only customers or visitors who have at least completed their primer vaccination shots be allowed to enter their premises.
“As previously announced, all Sinovac and Sinopharma vaccine recipients aged 18 and above, as well as all primer dose vaccine recipients aged 60 and above would lose their fully vaccinated status in their MySejahtera if they failed to get their booster shots.
“However, the history of the primer vaccinations will still remain on the MySejahtera app,” he said in a statement issued on March 30.
Khairy added that individuals are considered to have completed their primer dose vaccinations when they fulfilled certain criteria, including 14 days after their second dose of either Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines.
This also applied to single dose vaccines like Johnson & Johnson and CanSino.
“The announcement of the latest SOP, however, does not mean that Sinovac recipients aged 18 and above and recipients of all vaccinations aged 60 and above, do not need their booster shots.
“Assessment data conducted among vaccine recipients in Malaysia revealed that the level of protection against Covid-19 infections dropped by 20 per cent for double Pfizer doses and 48 per cent for Sinovac double doses in the period of three to five months after the primer vaccination,” he said.
Khairy emphasised that booster shots are important to enhance the level of antibodies in the body that would reduce the risk of severe symptoms from Covid-19 infections.
“As such, the Health Ministry would like to advise and encourage those who haven’t received their booster shots to get them immediately,” he added.
Meanwhile, for foreign travellers entering Malaysia, Khairy said they must comply with all standard operating procedures (SOP) in place, including full vaccination with both primer doses and booster in order to be allowed to enter premises.— DayakDaily
