MoH has granted conditional registration approval to the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use. — AFP Photo
KUCHING (July 16): The Ministry of Health (MoH) has granted conditional registration approval for emergency use to Sinopharm and Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccines, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
In a statement today, he said the conditional registration approval was decided during the Drug Control Authority (DCA) meeting today.
“This approval requires details on the quality, safety, and efficacy of the vaccines to be monitored and evaluated based on updated data from time to time.
“It is to ensure that the benefit over risk comparison of the vaccines remains positive,” he said.
Dr Noor Hisham said the Sinopharm vaccine is the Covilo Suspension for Injection Covid-19 Vaccine (Vero Cell), Inactivated developed by China National Biotec Group Company Ltd and manufactured by Beijing Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd.
The conditional registration approval for the use of the Sinopharm vaccine was given to Duopharma (M) Sdn Bhd, he said.
Dr Noor Hisham said the Johnson & Johnson Janssen Covid-19 Vaccine Suspension for Injection is manufactured by Belgium-based Janssen Pharmaceutica NV and the conditional registration approval has been given to Johnson & Johnson Sdn Bhd.
“MoH will always improve the level of public health in combating the Covid-19 pandemic through the procurement of vaccine supplies that have been evaluated in terms of quality, safety, and effectiveness by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) and approved by the DCA.
“The government is also committed to ensuring that the Malaysian adult population achieves herd immunity in line with the targets of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK),” he said.