Pharmaniaga LifeScience Sdn Bhd wants to increase its production capabilities to produce up to four million doses monthly of the Sinovac vaccine for Covid-19. — AFP file pic
KUCHING (Nov 13): The Ministry of Health (MoH) has been urged to engage medical experts to re-examine the latest local and global scientific data on using the Sinovac vaccine as a booster dose for Sarawakians.
In making this call last night, Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian said he had communicated with Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin about vaccine hesitancy in the state.
The Batu Kawah incumbent said the World Health Organisation (WHO) had recommended Sinovac vaccine as a booster dose.
“Any WHO-approved vaccines into the body is a good vaccine than the one sitting on the shelf! Vaccines will help to reduce infections, severity, and death from Covid-19.
“Hope our MoH experts can review and recommend as soon as possible,” he said in a Facebook post.
Yesterday, state Health deputy director (public health) Dr Rosemawati Ariffin said Sarawak will continue to use the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, which is approved by the MoH, as a booster dose for Sarawakians.
She said in a statement that the department would only administer the Sinovac vaccine as a booster dose against Covid-19 under certain circumstances such as if the recipient of the vaccine has a contraindication or allergy to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Later yesterday, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said AstraZeneca (AZ) and Sinovac had submitted dossiers of data to the MoH for the use of the respective vaccines as boosters.
He added that the MoH is now in the process of reviewing the data.