ADMINISTERING booster shots for fully vaccinated individuals is not going to help to curb the spread of the Delta variant but targeting the unvaccinated will, director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today.

“Giving booster doses to the fully inoculated will not help to control the spread of the Delta variant.

“But what can control the spread of the Delta variant is to vaccinate those who have not been vaccinated,” he said in a tweet today.

Malaysia is among one of the countries weighing in on the need for booster jabs against the fast spreading Covid-19 Delta variant.

The Special Committee on Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply previously said it had held discussions on booster jabs.

Former National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin was to have made an announcement on the matter but it was disrupted by the fall of the government.

As of Tuesday, a total of 13.6 million (58%) of the adult population have been vaccinated, while 18.6 million (79.6%) have received one jab. 

In total, 31.8 million vaccine doses have been administered since the vaccination programme started on February 24. 

Noor Hisham said that the focus should be on increasing vaccination rate in the country before considering booster jabs. 

“No one is safe until everyone is safe,” he said. 

Yesterday, despite Malaysia reporting 22,642 new Covid-19 cases against 20,798 recoveries, the number of patients in intensive care units (ICU) and those requiring respiratory support dropped to its lowest in almost a month today. 

There were 1,003 patients in ICU wards, with 490 of them requiring a ventilator.

ICU figures have not been at this level since July 25, when Noor Hisham said there were 970 patients in ICUs nationwide, while the number of patients on a ventilator was at its lowest level since July 24 (248). 

Meanwhile, among those being treated in the ICU were 38 vaccinated people. 

Twenty-five patients were in category 5 (critical condition and in need of ventilator support) and a further 13 were in category 4 (patients having pneumonia and requiring oxygen). – August 26, 2021.