Speaking at the National Assembly session, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that under the agreement, the government has agreed to purchase 150,000 doses of Molnupiravir, in preparation for COVID-19 to become an “endemic disease”.
Based on studies conducted by Merck Sharp & Dohme, the use of Molnupiravir can reduce hospitalisation rates by up to 50%. In addition, this drug is also effective against variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, such as Gamma, Delta and Mu.
The Malaysian Ministry of Health has been and will continue to monitor cutting-edge treatments for COVID-19 patients around the world to ensure that Malaysia is not left behind in accessing best treatment for people.
Referring to the booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, Khairy stated that the government will not force people to get this injection. However, he recommended that high-risk groups such as the elderly, immunocompromised people and frontline health workers get a booster shot from six months after they complete the vaccination. Malaysia has started deploying the booster shot from October 1 in Sarawak state.
Malaysia has recorded nearly 2.3 million COVID-19 infections, the third highest in Southeast Asia, but gradually lifted movement restrictions in recent weeks as the number of new cases declined amid a ramped-up vaccination programme.
Meanwhile, Indonesia's Food and Drug Administration (BPOM) has issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for China's Zifivax vaccine.
BPOM head Penny K Lukito said the EUA was issued after the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (ITAGI) conducted a joint assessment of the quality of this vaccine.
Specifically, the protective efficacy of the Zifivax vaccine was up to 81.71% one week after completing the vaccine course and 81.4% after 14 days of the third dose. The protective efficacy of the vaccine in subjects aged 18-59 years was 81.5% and 87.6% for people aged over 60 years.
Up to now, BPOM has granted EUA for 10 COVID-19 vaccines from Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Sinopharm, Moderna, Sputnik V, Janssen, Convidecia, Bio Farma COVID-19 and Zivifax.
