KUALA LUMPUR – As of yesterday, 702,702 appointments have been given to the target group under Phase 2 of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Plan (PICK) involving senior citizens and persons with disability (OKU).
Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar said, 475,984 individuals have received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine while 282,000 have received their second dose since the Phase 2 began on 19 April.
Meanwhile, for the AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine, he said that there is an increment on the capacity of vaccination where the Kuala Lumpur World Trade Centre (KLWTC) has recorded 8,360 doses on the first day of the programme.
“In line with the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO), Malaysia has put the AZ vaccine dose gap at 12 weeks, as practiced in Australia, Netherlands and Portugal.
“Although the experts from WHO recommended the gap between eight and 12 weeks between the two doses, we have decided on 12 weeks.
“Nevertheless, people who wish to shorten the gap between the doses may make an application on our website beginning next week. This is specially catered for students who will be travelling abroad and such,” he said during a virtual news conference on the development of PICK along with Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Adham Baba.
According to Khairy, following a great response from the public during the AZ vaccination programme since 12 May, the government has decided to reopen the initiative, where, the public can make a booking for their slots.
However, to ensure that the senior citizens will continue to be protected from the Covid-19 infection, they will be given the priority access for the second round of AZ vaccination.
“This is one of our efforts to protect them during the era when the country is facing an increasing cases of Covid-19 and for us to speed up the second phase.
“The second round of AZ will be extended from the Klang Valley to other red zone states that recorded high number of cases such as Johor, Sarawak and Penang.
“Therefore, for the second round of AZ vaccine, we will be combining Phase 2 and Phase 4 to control the outbreak by sending them to the red zone states,” he said.
According to him, the registration for senior citizens will be opened on 23 May at the website and community such as the District Health Offices in states identified as the red zone.
Khairy further explained that unclaimed spots for AZ vaccine by 26 May will be opened to the public below the age of 60.
“However, from 23 until 26 May, only senior citizens are eligible to get the appointment from the website,” he said. –MalaysiaGazette
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