Health Ministry: New Covid-19 vaccines now available
PETALING JAYA: A new batch of Covid-19 vaccines is now available, says the Health Ministry.
In a post on X, it said the vaccines are available at government health clinics.
'For your information, the vaccines are new and are not from the old stocks.'
The ministry posted on June 5 that the vaccines are effective against the latest variants.
It added that the mRNA vaccines are from Pfizer Inc.
The post has since been reposted by Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
Dzulkefly said in a separate post on X that the highly transmissible NB.1.8.1 variant has not been detected yet in Malaysia.
This variant, also known as Nimbus, has been identified as the cause of the resurgence of cases in India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
In Malaysia, the JN.1 is the dominant variant currently making up 17% of the variants detected.
This is followed by XEC (7.9%), KP.3 (5.2%), KP.3.1.1 & LB.1 (3.2%) and LF.7 & LP.8.1 (0.65%).
Dzulkefly said each country has different dominant variants; for example, the JN.1 in Thailand (63.92%), LF.7 & NB.1.8 (66%) in Singapore and the NB.1.8.1 (XDV subvariant) (12.5%) in China.
'Globally, the top three variants are predominantly LP.8.1 (34%), JN.1 and its related sub-variants (22%) and XEC (16%).
'The World Health Organization (WHO) considers the global risk from JN.1 to be low, but its high transmission rate may cause more cases, especially in winter or where immunity is low,' he said.
Dzulkefly advised the public to maintain good personal hygiene, wear face masks when unwell or in crowded environments, and receive vaccinations.
Thailand has reported over 28,000 new Covid-19 cases within the span of two days.
India has experienced a sudden increase in cases since late May, with the number of active infections now exceeding 5,000.
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