THOSE who have received the AstraZeneca jab will receive the same vaccine for their second dose, said Khairy Jamaluddin, coordinating minister for the National Immunisation Programme.

He was responding to the feasibility of heterologous vaccinations, or a mixture of two different types of vaccines, to be employed as part of the vaccination drive.

“Those who were given Astrazeneca will receive the same vaccine for their second dose. The mixing of two different types of vaccines is still being studied.

“Until a conclusive decision can be made, the same vaccine will be given,” he told a joint press conference with Health Minister Adham Baba at Putrajaya today.

Khairy said he will also be announcing the new interval for the AstraZeneca vaccine tomorrow.

Currently for AstraZeneca, the vaccine interval is 12 weeks while Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinovac have a three-week interval.

As of June 29, 16,742,895 people have registered for the vaccine.

Khairy said 2,848,431 were senior citizens and 2,119,088 had received at least their first dose.

Khairy, who is also the minister of science technology and innovation, said Phase 3 of the immunisation programme has also started in seven states – Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Selangor, Labuan, Penang and Sarawak.

Khairy said the RM400 million allocated under the Pemulih aid package will help speed up the immunisation programme with the setting up of more vaccination centres, drive-thru vaccination centres, mobile vaccination centres and home-to-home outreach programmes.

He added that 9,383,114 vaccines have been distributed nationwide. Of which, 4,526,730 were the Pfizer vaccine, 4,030,684 of the Sinovac vaccine and 825,700 of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Khairy said on July 1 and July 2, Malaysia will also receive one million doses of vaccines from Japan and the United States.

“One million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from Japan will arrive on Thursday while one million doses of Pfizer vaccines will arrive from the US on Friday.

“I would like to thank both countries for their contribution. This shows that the fight against the Covid-19 virus is a global initiative,” he added. – June 30, 2021.