KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21 — COVID-19 booster shots are needed after a certain time period to ensure fully vaccinated individuals\u2019 immunity remains at an optimum level, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He said there have been cases of waning immunity after receiving the primary doses within a certain period of time. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom monitoring done by the Institute for Clinical Research (ICR) in Malaysia, a decrease of 20 per cent in immunity has occurred in fully vaccinated individuals. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cAs for Sinovac vaccine recipients, there was an immunity decrease of 40 per cent three to five months after receiving the second dose,\u201d he said in a statement today.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
According to him, various studies from Israel, United Kingdom and Chile found a decrease in the level of COVID-19 neutralising antibody after three to six months of receiving the complete primary dose, increasing the risk of contracting the virus, especially for high-risk groups.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Dr Noor Hisham said as of yesterday, a total of 10,235,759 individuals or 43.7 per cent of the country’s population aged 18 and above had received booster shots.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, he said a total of 4,046 new COVID-19 cases were reported today, an increase compared to the 3,764 infections reported yesterday, adding that this takes the cumulative number of infections in the country to 2,824,973. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Of the new cases today, 0.8 per cent were in categories three, four and five while 99.2 per cent were in categories one and two, he added. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cA total of 489 infections were import cases and 3,557 involved local transmissions. There are 149 cases in the intensive care unit with 71 requiring respiratory assistance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Also, 2,804 recovered cases were reported today, taking the number of recoveries to 2,750,261, he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Dr Noor Hisham also said 12 new COVID-19 clusters were recorded today, adding that there are now 220 active clusters in the country. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Source: BERNAMA News Agency<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21 — COVID-19 booster shots are needed after a certain time period to ensure fully vaccinated individuals\u2019 immunity remains at an optimum level, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said. He said there have been c…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n