PUTRAJAYA: The AstraZeneca vaccine will be included back into the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme mainstream vaccine list following the public's encouraging response towards the vaccine, said National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minster Khairy Jamaluddin.

He said the decision to implement the voluntary or opt-in method was made after seeing the public's hesitancy to accept the AstraZeneca vaccine due to reports linking the vaccine to cases of blood clots.

"After seeing the vaccine being well-received, we see that the hesitance towards the AstraZeneca vaccine has been reduced.

"So we made the decision that we will not implement AstraZeneca through an opt-in method for the upcoming months but instead include it back into the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme's mainstream vaccine list," he said during an online media conference today.

Khairy also said the COVID-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV) meeting will consider the COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate Selection Committee's (JKPCV) recommendation regarding the suggestion to prolong the interval for the second Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine dose from three weeks to six weeks.

The decision to prolong the vaccine dose interval will depend on the spread of variants of concern (VOCs) in the country, he said.

"Although the strategy for us to prolong the interval of Pfizer-BioNtech doses from three weeks to six weeks will enable us to vaccinate more people, the decision must be balanced. We will see how the VOCs' existence will impact the effectiveness of the vaccine," he said.

According to him, data shows a single dose of Pfizer-BioNtech only provides 33 per cent protection against the B.1.617.2 variant or India variant, while two doses of Pfizer-BioNtech will offer 88 per cent protection.

"Although the decision is a good strategy in terms of coverage, as many people will receive protection, but from the quality protection against the B.1.617.2 variant, it is much lower.

"We will see the prevalence of VOCs and if the localities where VOCs are prevalent is low, then we can make a decision to increase the interval between two Pfizer-BioNtech doses," he said.

Currently, Khairy said the government decided to maintain the interval between the first and second Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine doses at three weeks in areas where there is a prevalence of VOC B.1.617.2.

"This is in line with the latest decisions by other countries that view a single dose does not offer effective protection to vaccine recipients against the B.1.617.2 variant," he said.

Last Tuesday, the Health Ministry detected the first case involving a local who tested COVID-19 positive with VOC India B.1.617.2, in which the patient was a close contact of an Indian national who was in the same flight from Kuala Lumpur to Labuan on April 23.

Meanwhile, Khairy said the MySejahtera application will be updated soon to enable the public to choose the type of COVID-19 vaccine they wanted, including the freedom to choose the date and place of their vaccine appointment.

"I think we learn a lot of lessons from the website and I think it is easier to do everything on MySejahtera, and I think it is better for us to encourage the people to use the app.

"We will be looking at how you choose your appointments, place, date as well as vaccine and we want to make the process as easier as possible for people. We are working with a few options right now, and we will announce them over the next couple of weeks," he said.

-- BERNAMA