With this step, he said most Malaysians who have already received their first and second doses will now be eligible for their third shot.

“We will announce this next week after finalising details,” he told a press conference in Putrajaya today.

He added that the move followed similar measures taken by other countries such as Germany and Australia, which are recommending shorter booster intervals in an attempt to stop the spread of new variants.

The minister said this is in response to an increasing number of Omicron variant cases detected at Malaysia’s entry points.

“The likelihood of Omicron being already present in the community is quite high, following the discovery of a patient with the variant in Sarawak who had not travelled abroad recently,” he said, adding he expected the number of cases to increase.

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