The PH presidential council said this method had proven effective in some countries amid the current shortage in vaccine supply.
It said despite the repeated assurances from the government that Malaysia had an adequate amount of vaccines, the slow pace of the roll-out indicated otherwise.
“There is a palpable shortage of vaccines and its effects are being felt throughout the nation.”
It said there was a dire need to adopt this scientifically proven approach of delaying the second dose.
“Covid-19 cases in our country has reached catastrophic levels, with almost 20,000 new cases being reported within the span of the last three days.
“Our utmost priority should be to protect the maximum number of people within the shortest possible time-frame,” the council said in a statement today.
The council noted that a similar strategy had been adopted by the United Kingdom in November last year, and followed by other countries such as Singapore and India.
The council also cited prominent studies to support the delay in administering the second dose.
“Latest research by the University of Birmingham, in collaboration with Public Health England, found that administering the Pfizer vaccine 12 weeks after the first dose (rather than three weeks) produced a much stronger antibody response.
“Researchers from Oxford University also showed in February that antibody responses were more than twice as strong when boosters of their vaccine were delayed for 12 weeks.”
It also encouraged the public to pressure the government to adopt this strategy.
“This strategy has been proven to work and the government must therefore be proactive in ratifying these strategies and stop endangering the lives of our citizens,” the council said.
Science, technology and innovation minister Khairy Jamaluddin had said that the intervals between the first and second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is being offered now on a voluntary basis, had been set at 12 weeks.
He said this was in line with recommendations given by the World Health Organization and was currently being practised in the UK.
He also did not rule out the possibility of a third booster dose next year if this was necessary.
CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST DATA ON THE COVID-19 SITUATION IN MALAYSIA