Three Covid-19 jabs suitable for pregnant women, says Khairy

Minister Khairy Jamaluddin today said that the Pfizer-BioNTech, Sinovac and AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines currently in use in the country are suitable for pregnant women, based on the updated guidelines by the health ministry.

“AstraZeneca is no longer contraindicated in pregnancy and Sinovac is recommended by the World Health Organization’s interim report for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers as the benefits outweigh the potential risks,” Khairy, who is in charge of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, said at a press conference after visiting the Mitec vaccination centre (PPV) in Kuala Lumpur.

He also said a total of 109,607 pregnant women had registered for Covid-19 vaccination via the MySejahtera application so far.

Of these, 11,663 women are expected to give birth in August and will be given priority for vaccination, he said, adding that about 10,000 pregnant women have received their appointment dates.

Khairy said about 6,000 expectant mothers are scheduled to be vaccinated at the Mitec and Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre PPVs this weekend.

Pregnant women remain a high-priority group for vaccination based on their risk of contracting Covid-19.

Khairy, who is the science, technology and innovation minister, said a total of four industrial PPVs are currently operating while 19 others will begin operations by the end of the month.

The industrial PPV for the oil and gas sector in Kerteh, Terengganu, will start operating on July 1 while the Eastern Steel industrial PPV in Kemaman will begin operations on July 2.

The vaccination programme for the economic sector will be expanded to cover other industries soon, he added.

Meanwhile, Khairy said careful planning was being done to avoid a shortage of vaccine supply at PPVs.

He admitted that some PPVs had run out of vaccine stocks due to high utilisation rates.

“We will receive more supply in July, so we hope this will not happen again. We have over eight million doses and seven million have been utilised while one million doses are being distributed,” he said.

In a related development, Khairy said 99% of senior citizens in Kuala Lumpur and 88% in Selangor have either been vaccinated or have received an appointment date.