MOST of the country’s health experts currently recommend that people who have received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine should wait 12 weeks to get their second shot, with a minimum wait of four weeks.
However, certain countries, Malaysia included, have made the decision to shorten the interval between the two doses from 12 weeks to only nine.
According to Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Professor Datuk Dr Subramaniam Muniandy, the initial schedule in the United Kingdom was actually supposed to be three to four weeks between the first and second doses.
“It was stretched to 12 weeks to allow more people to get the first dose as supplies were limited. However, after first dose the protection is low, especially against the delta variant. It is therefore better to bring the second dose forward as much as possible,” he told FocusM.
However, he brushed off the idea that the Government’s decision was a controversial one.
“The original three-week interval was stretched to twelve because the governments in Europe wanted to achieve wider coverage by getting the maximum number of first doses. Now the supplies are better, they are reducing the interval,” Dr Subramaniam explained.
He added: “There is probably no significant difference between nine and 12 weeks, and there’s a lot of difference between one dose and two doses. It is better to get people vaccinated fast with two doses if there is enough supply, or otherwise, variants will develop.”
Last week, the Special Committee on COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) agreed to shorten the interval between doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from 12 weeks to nine.
Khairy Jamaluddin, the coordinating minister of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme, said that the committee made the decision following the advice of its panel of experts.
The panel of experts who also comprise members of the Health Ministry felt that recipients of the vaccine will still receive appropriate protection with the new duration, as the level of effectiveness remains the same.
For the record, said Khairy, the nine-week dosing interval is still in line with the guidelines set by the vaccine’s manufacturer AstraZeneca, which is four to 12 weeks. – July 7, 2021
