KUCHING: Sarawak has started administering third doses and booster shots of the Covid-19 vaccine to high-risk groups and frontliners.

       Deputy state health director Dr Rosemawati Ariffin said the additional shots would be given to some 11,900 immunocompromised individuals, 80,300 people above 60 and 30,340 medical frontliners.

       “The third dose and booster shots will be administered at selected public health clinics, private hospitals and private clinics.

       “Eligible recipients can contact the clinics to get an appointment,” she said in a statement.

       Dr Rosemawati said the administering of third doses and booster shots, which started yesterday, was meant to provide additional protection to vulnerable groups.

       “This includes immunocompromised individuals for whom two doses of the vaccine are not enough to give them protection or stimulate an immune response to fight Covid-19, so a third dose is needed.

       “The booster shot is given to individuals with an adequate immune response to the primary vaccine series but which has waned over time,” she said.

       The administering of the third dose and booster shots to high-risk groups, she added, would help steer Sarawak and Malaysia out of the pandemic towards the endemic phase.

       Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin recently said that Sarawak would be the first state to start giving booster shots this month.

       The ministry has approved Pfizer- BioNTech’s Cominarty vaccine for the booster dose programme in Malaysia.