THERE will be no further extension to get the targeted group of CoronaVac takers to go for their booster shots, says Khairy Jamaluddin.

       The Health Minister also denied that the extension was granted last week because of the Johor state election.

       The booster deadline for adult primary recipients of the vaccine better known as Sinovac, which is produced by China’s Sinovac Biotech, has been extended from Feb 28 to March 31.

       Those who fail to get their booster dose by this month will have their vaccination status on the MySejahtera app changed to “incomplete”.

       Khairy said the deadline would not be extended beyond March 31.

       “The extension has nothing to do with the state polls. It is to allow for a bit more time for them to complete their booster dose.

       “In addition, there were a lot of requests for an extension of time,” the minister said when replying to a supplementary question raised by Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad (PH-Kuala Selangor), the previous health minister under Pakatan Harapan.

       To a question by Oscar Ling (PH-Sibu), Khairy said that Sarawak had the highest rate of vaccination involving children aged between five and 11.

       “Some 57% of children in Sarawak have received at least one vaccination dose,” he said.

       He added that he would propose to Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali, who is charge of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids), to open up more vaccination centres (PPV) in Sarawak.

       Ling highlighted that there was no PPV for children in his constituency, with worries of unvaccinated children bringing the virus home once school resumed later this month after the three-week break.

       Meanwhile, Khairy also announced that his ministry had paid out RM203.6mil to its frontliners under Budget 2022’s special financial assistance on Jan 25.

       A total of 290,892 ministry employees benefited from the payout, he said in reply to Datuk Dr Hasan Bahrom (PH-Tampin).

       The government had previously announced the special assistance of RM700 to 1.3 million civil servants Grade 56 and below including frontliners in the ministry.

       Khairy also noted that there would be 3,586 permanent vacancies to be filled by contract doctors.