Covid-19: Seniors to get second booster appointment links from April 22, says Khairy

PETALING JAYA: Individuals aged 60 and above who meet the criteria for the Covid-19 vaccine second booster dose will receive a booking link in stages starting Friday (April 22) via the MySejahtera application, says Khairy Jamaluddin.

The Health Minister said they were among the three categories eligible for the additional dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

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This also includes adults aged 18 years old and above who are traveling overseas and are required to get their second booster shot as part of the requirement of the destination country.

The final group eligible for the second booster are moderately and severely immunocompromised adolescents aged 12 to 17 years old who have completed their primer doses.

He said those eligible individuals 60 years old and above were those who had received their first booster dose at least four to six months ago.

“For individuals above 60 years old who have completed their first booster dose and were infected with Covid-19, they are eligible to receive the second booster dose three months after full recovery,” he said in a statement Friday.

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Khairy said the Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty) second booster dose was for high-risk individuals aged 60 and above including patients with chronic respiratory disease; chronic heart and vascular disease; chronic kidney disease; chronic liver disease and chronic neurological disease.

Individuals belonging to this category will be given appointments via MySejahtera or they can walk-in to vaccination centres (PPV) without an appointment.

They can also receive their shots at private and government hospitals which serve as PPVs. The shots will also be administered to residents at care homes for aged via an outreach programme.

Khairy said healthy individuals aged 60 and above should first discuss with their medical practitioners if they want the second booster dose.

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Meanwhile, he said teenagers aged 12 to 17 years old in the moderate or severe immunocompromised category and certified by government and private physicians are eligible to receive the additional dose.

Khairy said they can receive the additional dose at least 28 days after receiving the last dose of the primer series, while for individuals who have completed the primary dose and who have tested positive for Covid-19, they are eligible to receive an additional dose after three months of full recovery.

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Khairy said teenagers who are undergoing treatment in government hospitals, private hospitals, private paediatric specialist clinics, and health clinics with specialists which are PPVs can be given extra doses opportunistically at such health facilities.

He also said that individuals aged 18 years old and above who wished to go abroad can receive the second booster dose after an interval of at least one month from the first booster dose to meet the requirements of the country of destination.

“They can walk in without an appointment at operating PPVs by bringing along supporting documents (such as flight tickets or travel documents),” he said.