KUCHING: The public shouldn’t be worried of the various types of vaccines used in the nation’s immunisation programme.
Education, Science and Technological Research assistant minister Dr Annuar Rapaee said the most important thing is that the vaccine can combat the spread of Covid-19.
“When a vaccine or a medicine is produced, it has to undergo many processes from pre-clinical trial to clinical trial before it can be used on people.
“Secondly, there are many Covid-19 vaccines besides Sinovac, Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca.
“We cannot only depend on Sinovac and Pfizer, it won’t be enough. That is why we have to obtain other types,” he said in a Facebook live session on Saturday.
He was fielding questions from netizens on the need to procure various types of vaccines. Currently, there are only two types of vaccines that have arrived in Malaysia — Pfizer and Sinovac.
“The Sinovac vaccine is made of killed vaccine — it is not the first to use that technique as many other vaccines before this had done so, such as vaccines for Polio and Hepatitis A,” he said.
Dr Annuar added that when an individual has been administered two doses of a particular Covid-19 vaccine, he/she won’t be given another type.
“When you take the Pfizer vaccine, you won’t need to take Sinovac,” he said.
On the side effects of the vaccination, Dr Annuar said he is fine after getting his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine earlier on Saturday.
“The most important thing is that we must ensure that there is no allergic reaction — this occurs in the first 30 minutes. That is why patients, after vaccinated, have to be monitored before going home,” he said.
