Khairy (right) is seen at the press conference with Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba. — Bernama photo
KUCHING (June 21): The Covid-19 vaccine developed by CanSino Biologics is expected to reach Malaysia next month, said National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
During the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) weekly press conference today he said the schedule of delivery is still being finalised.
“The distribution may begin at the end of July.
“As for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, there is still no response from Covax yet. But we have exercised our option in Covax, and are still waiting for a reply on the date of delivery,” he said.
Both vaccines are single dose and have received Emergency Use Listing (EUL).
Khairy said the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) is also in the process of evaluating Russia’s Sputnik V following a June 1 agreement signed with Duopharma Biotech Bhd.
“Duopharma is given three months from the date that the agreement was inked to register the vaccine with NPRA.
“I was made to understand that there is some information on its stability required by NPRA before we make any decisions on approving its use. NPRA has also agreed to simplify its process if the Sputnik vaccine is recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for EUL,” he said.
Sputnik V is a Russian-made vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology.
On another note, Khairy said the government expects 10 per cent of the population to be fully vaccinated (with two doses) by the middle of July.
“Currently, for every 100 doses that we administer, 30 are the second dose.
“So in order to fully immunise 10 per cent of the population or 3.2 million people, we have to administer about 10.7 million doses,” he said.
Khairy said this is based on that projection and taking into consideration vaccine supply and the capacity of vaccination centres.