KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 — About two million Sinovac vaccine recipients are at risk of losing their fully vaccinated status on April 1, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said.
He said currently, 2.09 million Sinovac recipients have yet to receive their booster dose.
“Based on our (Health Ministry) projections for another week, there is the possibility that two million (Sinovac) recipients are at risk of losing their fully vaccinated status on April 1,” he said in a media conference at the Parliament building here today.
Prior to this, the deadline for Sinovac recipients to receive their booster dose before they lose their fully vaccinated status was on Feb 28, before it was extended to March 31.
Khairy said to encourage them to get their booster shot, discussions were also held with Singapore following an agreement between both nations to allow land cross border travel without the need for travellers to take COVID-19 pre-departure and arrival tests or be quarantined.
“I discussed this matter with the Minister of Health of Singapore… Singapore also considers fully vaccinated for Sinovac (recipients) to be three doses (including booster), so if you want to enjoy your trip to Singapore, no quarantine, you know what to do,” he said.
Meanwhile, Khairy said although the country will enter the “Transition to Endemic” beginning April 1, the wearing of face masks was still compulsory.
He also said home quarantine orders and the wearing of digital tracking devices were among procedures to be scrapped for travellers from April 1.
The Langkawi International Travel Bubble, the Health Ministry’s COVID-19 RT-PCR test counter at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and My TravelPass will also be scrapped, he said.
