Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the Health Ministry (KKM) is currently studying the need for Sinovac vaccine recipients who had been jabbed with a Pfizer booster to get another dose to increase their protection against the Omicron-variant.
In a press conference yesterday (1 January), Khary said the ministry’s technical team took note of a study that found that Sinovac’s two-dose Covid-19 vaccine followed by a single Pfizer booster shot was less effective against Omicron.
“The Health Ministry’s technical working group is studying the information obtained and will submit a proposal to the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) whether those who received two doses of the Sinovac vaccine followed by a Pfizer booster shot would need another dose.”
“However, it is too early for us to come to any conclusions,” Khairy said.
This comes after a study by researchers from Yale University, the Dominican Republic’s Health Ministry and other institutions revealed that Sinovac’s two-dose Covid-19 vaccine followed by a booster Pfizer-BioNTech booster shot showed a lower immune response against the Omicron variant compared to other strains.
According to the study cited by Reuters, 2 doses of the primary Sinovac vaccine and a Pfizer booster shot produced an antibody response similar to a two-dose mRNA vaccine.
However, the antibody levels against Omicron were 6.3-fold lower when compared to the ancestral variant and 2.7-fold lower when compared to Delta.
Meanwhile, Akiko Iwasaki, one of the authors of the study, said those vaccinated with Sinovac’s CoronaVac may need 2 additional booster doses to reach protective levels needed against Omicron.
The study has yet to be peer-reviewed.
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