A nurse stirs a nasal swab in testing solution after administering a Covid-19 test. — AFP photo
KUCHING (Jan 10): The Ministry of Health (MoH) has found that the unvaccinated were nine times more likely to be infected with Covid-19 and 62 times more likely to end up dying from the virus compared to those who had been vaccinated and gotten their booster doses.
In a post on Facebook, the ministry shared a chart showing the incidence rate of infection and fatalities per 100,000 of the population, from Dec 1, 2021 to Jan 6 this year.
It found that those who had received their booster doses and gotten infected numbered at 1,238, while 4,255 individuals had completed their two-dose vaccination and became infected.
This meant that those who have not gotten their booster doses are 3.4 times more likely to get infected by Covid-19.
A total of 10,874 infected individuals were unvaccinated, making them 8.8 times more likely to be infected compared to those who had gotten their booster doses.
Meanwhile, fatalities involving those who had gotten their booster doses numbered at nine, followed by those who had completed vaccinations – 32, and those who had not been vaccinated – 555.
The statistics showed that those who had only completed their two-dose vaccination without going for the booster dose were 3.6 times more likely to die from Covid-19 infection, while those who were unvaccinated were 61.7 times more likely to die if infected.
According to the MoH’s CovidNow website, as of Jan 9, nationwide 25,647,708 had completed their two-dose vaccination, while 7,809,058 have gotten their booster doses.
The overall fatalities in Malaysia since the pandemic began numbered at 31,678 as of Jan 9.
In Sarawak, the number of fully vaccinated individuals to date is 2,129,829 or 75.6 per cent, while the partially vaccinated (at least one dose of the two-dose vaccine) stood at 44,672 or 1.6 per cent.
This means 22.8 per cent or 641,999 of the total population in Sarawak remain unvaccinated.
Individuals who had received their booster doses in the state stood at 1,266,299.