KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia has conditionally approved emergency use of the single-dose COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese company CanSino Biologics, the Health Ministry said Tuesday.

Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said the approval was given by the regulators to the Convidecia Recombinant Novel Coronavirus Vaccine (Adenovirus Type 5 Vector) developed by the CanSino.

CanSino Biologics Vice President Xin Chunlin told Xinhua that CanSino will supply Malaysia with finished products and is also working with local partners for local manufacturing.

The COVID-19 vaccine developed by U.S. Pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson has also been granted emergency use on Tuesday, said Noor Hisham, adding that the country is expected to obtain the vaccines through Malaysia's participation in the WHO-led COVAX program.

He added that Malaysia has also cleared the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech for use by those aged 12 and above. The vaccine had previously been approved for use in Malaysia in January this year for those aged 18 and above.

Before the approval for the CanSino vaccine, both the finished vaccines imported from China and the locally fill-and-finish products developed by China's Sinovac have been used in Malaysia's national immunization program after receiving approval from the country's regulators.

Malaysia has been ramping up its vaccination drive which started in February, with a single-day record high of 197,963 doses administered on Monday. Some 4.6 million doses have been administered, with 1.4 million have received two doses. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)