SINGLE-DOSE VACCINES AVAILABLE SOON
Recipients will mostly be those living in rural, interior areas, says Dr Adham
MALAYSIA will soon be able to administer single-dose Covid-19 vaccines under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP), primarily aimed at inoculating those living in rural and interior areas.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said the government had procured 3.5 million doses of China’s single-dose CanSino vaccine, which would be delivered to Malaysia in stages, starting this month.
He said the procurement of the vaccine was being made in two categories, namely finished product of 500,000 doses and the rest of the delivery in bulk to be filled and packaged by local company Solutions Biologics Sdn Bhd (SolBio).
“A total of 3.5 million people will benefit from the procurement of the CanSino vaccine,” Bernama quoted him as saying.
He said this yesterday after witnessing the signing of an agreement between the Health Ministry and SolBio in Putrajaya.
Malaysia has gained access to Covid-19 vaccine supplies through the COVAX facility and initial purchases from five Covid19 vaccine manufacturers, which include two-dose vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Sinovac Life Sciences Co Ltd (Sinovac) and CanSinoBIO, and single-dose vaccine Sputnik V from Russia.
The CanSino vaccine is jointly developed by China’s CanSino Biologics Inc and Beijing Institute of Biotechnology under the Academy of Military Medical Sciences.
It was reported that the vaccine was 65.7 per cent effective in preventing symptomatic cases of the virus and 90.1 per cent effective in preventing severe diseases.
CanSino’s 65 per cent efficacy figure passes the World Health Organisation’s recommended threshold of 50 per cent, but it still falls behind the 95 per cent posted by Pfizer-BioNTech and 92 per cent by Russia’s Sputnik V.
For AstraZeneca, it claims to be 76 per cent effective in protecting against symptomatic cases of the virus and current figures show that the protection rate of Sinovac vaccines within two months after administering two shots is 80 to 90 per cent.
Dr Adham said the CanSino vaccine would be mainly used in rural and interior areas where it would be difficult for recipients to receive double doses such as those provided by Pfizer-BioN
Tech and Sinovac vaccines.
This vaccine, he said could also be used to inoculate foreigners in the country.
Under the agreement signed yesterday, SolBio would produce three million doses on the filland-finish basis to be supplied to the government.
Dr Adham, however said the company still had to comply with all regulations related to registration with the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency and the Drug Control Authority of Malaysia before it could undertake the supply of the CanSino vaccine.
“If the company fails to obtain the required registration approval, the agreement can be revoked because the government emphasises effectiveness, safety and quality.”
NIP Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin on March 8 said the CanSino option looked better than the one from Johnson & Johnson as the United States pharmaceutical company could only ship its supply in the fourth quarter of this year.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had said Malaysia aimed to complete its NIP by February next year, covering 80 per cent of its population of 32 million people, thus achieving herd immunity.
Dr Adham said up to Wednesday, 482,808 people had received the first dose and 215,395 had completed two doses of the vaccination under the NIP.
Based on an infographic posted on Dr Adham’s official Twitter page, Selangor had the highest number of first dose recipients at 67,931, followed by Perak (49,365), Sabah (45,185), Kuala Lumpur (44,499) and Sarawak (43,862).
On the number of people who had received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, the data showed Sarawak logged the highest number at 25,236, followed by Selangor (23,525), Sabah (19,839), Kuala Lumpur (19,226) and Perak (16,669).
Dr Adham said up to Wednesday, the number of those who registered for the NIP stood at 7,501,094, or 30.92 per cent, with Selangor recording the highest number of registrants at 2,055,553.