SINOVAC Covid-19 vaccine recipients are receiving booster shots sooner as the effectiveness of the vaccine wanes more quickly, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said today. 

He said since in the 10 weeks leading up to November 12, the country has seen a rise in the number of categories four and five coronavirus patients who were Sinovac recipients.

“While Sinovac is effective, there is evidence its effectiveness wanes sooner. 

“This is Cat 4 & 5 weekly admission into Hospital Sg Buloh. That’s why we want you to take whatever booster is on offer,” he said on Twitter.

Patients in category one are asymptomatic, category two have mild symptoms and category three show signs of pneumonia.

Category four patients require supplementary oxygen while category five patients are on ventilators.

Sinovac vaccine recipients are getting their booster shots within three months of their second dose while AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine recipients have a booster interval of six months.

From August 29 to September 4, Sungai Buloh Hospital had 46 categories 4 and five patients who were recipients of the Sinovac vaccine. 

The figure continues to go up, hitting an all-time high of 165 patients in the November 7-13 week.

In comparison, recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine saw the lowest admission rate in categories four and five, followed by Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine recipients.

Data from CovidNow showed as of midnight yesterday, Malaysia had administered 1.4 million booster shots.

Malaysia has administered the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to 53.5% of the population, Sinovac to 38.3%, AstraZeneca to 7.8%, and the single-dose CanSino shot to 0.4%. – November 20, 2021.