PHARMANIAGA Berhad will be supplying Sinovac Covid-19 booster doses to designated private hospitals and clinics soon, following the conditional approval by the Drug Control Authority yesterday.

Pharmaniaga group managing director Zulkarnain Md Eusope said the vaccine will be available at selected private hospitals and clinics as an option for individuals who wish to have the Sinovac booster dose for themselves. 

“We hope with this effort, we can see our country revive its economy and help Malaysians weather the Covid-19 pandemic, thus ensuring the wellbeing of the people, business continuity and most importantly saving lives,” he said in a statement in Kuala Lumpur today.

Zulkarnain added that the Sinovac booster dose has been approved for individuals aged 18 years and above who have received the same type of vaccine (homologous) and will be administered three to six months after the second dose, as outlined by the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force-Booster.

He said a number of Chinese provinces and cities have started giving booster shots to people who received their first two doses at least six months ago.

“In China, the booster shot rollout comes after close to 80% of the population have been vaccinated, to give the optimum protection against the virus and new variants.

“According to a research in China, booster shots given at an interval of six to 12 months after the second dose led to a strong boost in immune response, with geometric mean titers (GMT) increasing to approximately 140 in adults and even higher in the elderly aged above 60 years,” he said.

He said the GMT of six months after the third dose is higher than the peak of the second dose. Studies also showed higher persistence of antibodies of up to 20-fold, six months after the booster dose compared to the second dose, indicating a longer duration of protection from Covid-19 and new variants.

“The Sinovac vaccine is safe as it is developed using inactivated virus. It is a well-established technology of more than 40 years that is also being used commonly in many types of vaccines currently available in the market, including for polio, Hepatitis A and rabies,” he said. – Bernama, November 18, 2021.