The Health Ministry has no plans to administer a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to the public in order to curb the spread of Omicron variants. - NSTP/DANIAL SAAD
The Health Ministry has no plans to administer a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to the public in order to curb the spread of Omicron variants. - NSTP/DANIAL SAAD

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry has no plans for now to administer a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to control the spread of the highly-contagious Omicron variants.

Deputy Health Minister Datuk Aaron Ago Dagang said this in his response to an additional question from Datuk Che Abdullah Mat Nawi (PN-Tumpat) in the Dewan Rakyat today.

"The ministry has no plans to begin administering a fourth dose (of the Covid-19 vaccine) to the public," Aaron said.

Che Abdullah, in his question, said he was informed that the ministry formed a technical committee att the end of last year to look into the necessity of administering a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine or another round of booster jabs to the public following the threat posed by the Omicron variant.

He asked if the technical committee has made any decisions over the matter.

Aaron in response said he would be looking into the matter.

"I will investigate further on what was said by the Yang Berhormat (Che Abdullah) whether it is true (or otherwise) or that report on the outcome from the meeting by the committee has yet to be submitted to the ministry," said Aaron.

To another additional question, he said the ministry has no qualms about having an independent panel evaluate the post-mortem report on the death of Revnesh Kumar, whose family claimed that his death was related to the vaccine.

"I believe that the ministry has no restrictions on this matter. This however depends on authorisation from the parents of the teenager (Revnesh).

"Nevertheless, the health minister (Khairy Jamaluddin) met the parents of the teenager and provided the necessary explanations to them," he said.

Aaron was responding to an additional question from Kelvin Yii (PH-Bandar Kuching) for the ministry to state its stand on the proposal for the post-mortem report on Revnesh to be evaluated by an independent panel.

The proposal was raised by Charles Santiago (PH-Klang) during the Dewan Rakyat sitting on Wednesday.

He said the independent panel can provide a neutral evaluation on Revnesh's case and that it could perhaps allay fears among parents over side effects of the Covid-19 vaccine on their children.

Earlier, Aaron told the House that the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) had received 607 reports of deaths among Covid-19 recipients.

He said from the total reports received, evaluations and investigations involving 451 cases have been completed, which concluded that no deaths were directly linked to the vaccine.

He said the cases were being evaluated and investigated by the Covid-19 Vaccine Pharmacovigilance Special Committee.

"Although information on the investigation into the cases cannot be revealed to the public since it is confidential, with the exception of permission by the next of kin, the ministry assures that all cases are being investigated comprehensively, thoroughly and in detail," he said.