Science, technology and innovation minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the vaccine, for now, will only be for residents in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.
The decision comes in light of public concern regarding the use of the vaccine in Phase 2 of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, following cases of thrombosis (blood clots) among recipients in European countries, some of which have put the vaccine on hold.
“It will not be limited to those in Phase 2, we are making this available to everyone. We will conduct pre-vaccination screening and if they are eligible, they will be given the vaccine,” Khairy told a press conference today.
He said a special booking system for appointments will be set up soon and anyone aged 18 and above will be able to sign up for an appointment.
“The cases in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur are still very high so we have decided to divert the 268,000 doses of the vaccine there,” he said, adding that he had already spoken to the Selangor menteri besar to set up a special vaccination centre in the state.
Khairy also said he had made an offer for Sarawak to consider using the vaccine to help expedite inoculation ahead of its state election.
The government has agreed on a 12-week interval in between the two doses of the vaccine, as recommended by the World Health Organization and practised by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the UK.
Following this, another batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be delivered in May to supply recipients with their second doses.
Khairy gave an assurance that those who have received their appointments under the immunisation programme will only be given the Pfizer-BioNTech or Sinovac vaccines.
According to him, Denmark, Norway and Hong Kong were the only countries that have officially halted the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Other countries, particularly those in Europe, have resumed the use of the vaccine following their own assessments.
“The risk of experiencing blood clots when one is infected by Covid-19 is 16.5%. For smokers, it is 0.18% and (for those on) birth control pills it is 0.05% to 0.12%.”
He said data from AstraZeneca showed it is four cases for every 1 million people.
“That is a 0.0004% chance (of blood clot),” he said, adding that the clinical guideline for the vaccine has since been updated following assessments made by a committee of health experts in Malaysia.
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