HEALTHY Malaysians under the age of 60 will get to know in a couple of weeks if they will be recommended to take a second booster dose for Covid-19, Khairy Jamaluddin said today.

The Health Minister said it is currently being studied by the Technical Working Committee for Covid-19 Vaccination.

“Currently, the Technical Working Committee is refining whether to recommend a second booster dose to those below the age of 60 with no health issues.”

“This will be announced in a week or two after we look at the information in detail,” Khairy said at a press conference in Parliament today.

Khairy said the decision will be made after considering the rise in new daily cases and also with the emergence of the newly-detected and highly infectious Omicron BA.5 subvariant in the country.

He also urged individuals aged 60 and above with underlying medical conditions and high-risk individuals to take a second Covid-19 booster shot. 

“For high-risk individuals such as the elderly, frontline workers or individuals with comorbidities who have received a first booster dose, they are also urged to obtain a second booster dose after six months of receiving the first booster dose.”

“The second booster dose is available for free at registered Private Vaccination Centers (PPVs) listed on Protect Health’s website.”

“The public are advised to contact the PPVs in advance for an appointment,” he said. 

Khairy said that a total of 16,152,022 (68.8%) individuals had received their first booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine while the number eligible to receive the first booster shot according to the criteria set by the ministry was 23,545,221.

He said 7,393,199 (31.4%) have yet to receive their first booster shot. 

On the second booster dose, Khairy said that the number of individuals eligible for the shot was 2,490,810 but only 151,018 (6.06%) took the jab. 

He said 2,339,792 (93.94%) eligible recipients have not taken their second booster shot to date. – July 8, 2022.