According to Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM) president Dr Kuljit Singh, booster doses are essential in providing further protection for people who have already received two shots of the vaccine

Health minister Khairy Jamaluddin had said yesterday that those who received their Sinovac shots will be given appointments on MySejahtera 90 days after their second dose of Sinovac and 180 days after the second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or Astra Zeneca.

Kuljit said private hospitals will work with the health ministry and ProtectHealth in the giving the boosters.

He said many private hospitals were already giving boosters for those aged above 60, based on MySejahtera appointments.

“Now, it is open to the rest, based on the recent criteria,” he said in a statement today.

However, Kuljit expressed concern that people were not turning up to get their booster shots.

“The service provided by these private hospitals to give booster doses is free of charge and is part of our efforts to assist the government.”

He said there had been a recent increase in admission of Category 3 to 5 Covid patients in intensive care units (ICU) and normal wards but the number was not as alarming as it was a few months ago due to vaccinations.

Kuldip said the public must not ignore the guidelines from the health ministry and international bodies on the possibility of another big wave of infections, especially due to the emergence of variants like Omicron.