Health Ministry approves use of Pfizer booster shot for adults
The Health Ministry has given conditional approval for the use of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine as a booster dose.
Its director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the booster shot will be administered at least six months after the second dose for adults aged 18 and above.
“The ministry would like to inform that the conditional approval required...
The Health Ministry has given conditional approval for the use of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine as a booster dose.
Its director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the booster shot will be administered at least six months after the second dose for adults aged 18 and above.
“The ministry would like to inform that the conditional approval required information relating to the vaccine’s quality, safety and efficacy which are monitored and assessed according to the latest data from time to time.
"This is to ensure that the benefit over risk for the vaccine remains positive,” he said in a statement today.
Noor Hisham said this after conducting the 365th meeting of the Drug Control Authority (DCA) held this morning.
The Comirnaty vaccine manufactured by Pfizer and BioNTech is the first booster shot approved for use in the country.
Noor Hisham added that the ministry is always committed to improving access to Covid-19 vaccines by ensuring all relevant aspects of the vaccines are assessed by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) and approved by the DCA.
Comirnaty is also being used on adolescents aged between 12 and 17.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin previously set early October as the target to begin rolling out the third dose.
Yesterday, he said that the government will not make it compulsory for any vaccine recipients to get a booster shot but highly recommends it.
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