PETALING JAYA, Sept 21 (Sin Chew Daily) – Malaysians should not be worried about a third booster dose because our existing immunization programs normally require more than two doses to provide maximum protection.

Local immunology expert Datuk Dr Lim Thuang Seng said the booster dose will help the country safely sail past the current COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the effectiveness of antibodies generally lasts six to eight months.

As the pandemic is still around, there is this need for Malaysians to have their immunity boosted with a third dose, which Dr Lim suggests to go for an inactivated vaccine instead of mRNA or vector vaccine to minimize the undesirable effects such as blood clot and myocarditis.

He told Sin Chew Daily we now have more study reports to use as reference when picking a low-risk vaccine.

Dr Lim is of the opinion that the coronavirus pandemic will be like SARS earlier on. When people have learned to live with the virus, they will no longer feel alarmed by it.