KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- More than 16.4 million people, or 50.5 percent of Malaysians, have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the COVID-19 vaccine supply access guarantee special committee said Thursday.
The committee also noted that some 70.5 percent of the adult population over 18-years-old has been fully vaccinated in its daily update of vaccination rates in the country.
In an earlier press briefing, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the government is studying the vaccination of those under 18-years-old as schools are planned to reopen.
On the type of vaccine that could be used for this category, he said a proposal had been received for the CoronaVac vaccine developed by Sinovac Life Sciences Co., Ltd.
"We might need this because if teenagers have reactions, anaphylaxis that might be connected to mRNA vaccines like Pfizer, we have options for other vaccines," he said.
He also said the government is preparing guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOPs) to help the country transition towards living with COVID-19 as an endemic disease.
Separately, Khairy said in a statement that another 19,307 fresh COVID-19 infections have been reported, bringing the national total to 1,919,774.
He said six of the new cases are imported and 19,301 are local transmissions. Another 323 more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 19,486.
Some 24,855 patients have been released after recovery, bringing the total number of cured and discharged to 1,657,486 or 86.3 percent of all cases.
Of the remaining 242,802 active cases, 967 are being held in intensive care and 464 of those are in need of assisted breathing. Enditem
