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KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): Malaysia will receive China’s Sinovac vaccine for Covid-19 on Saturday (Feb 27), the second vaccine brand in a week’s span, after welcoming the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, strengthening so even more so the country. road to economic recovery.
The Sinovac vaccine, called CoronaVac, was obtained through a supply agreement involving 14 million doses signed between Pharmaniaga Bhd and the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac Life Sciences Co Ltd.
Pharmaniaga President Datuk Dr. Hafsah Hashim said that of the total, 12 million doses will be supplied to the Ministry of Health, while the remaining two million doses will be channeled to private hospitals, and the entire distribution exercise is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
He said the vaccines carried on special planes operated by Malaysia’s cargo carrier MAB Kargo Sdn Bhd will arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 9 a.m. Saturday, tentatively.
Among the dignitaries expected to welcome the arrival of the vaccine to the KLIA are China’s Ambassador to Malaysia, Ouyang Yujing, four local ministers and members of the Pharmaniaga board.
The ministers are the Minister of Health, Datuk Seri, Dr. Adham Baba; The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin (who is also the Coordinating Minister of the National Covid-19 Immunization Program); Chief Minister (Security) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob; and the Minister of Transport, Datuk Seri, Dr. Wee Ka Siong.
Malaysia’s Covid-19 Immunization Program started on Wednesday (February 24) with priority for front-line riders.
Hafsah said that as a highly sought after product, the vaccine would be safely escorted by the Malaysian Armed Forces and the Royal Malaysian Police to the small-volume injectable high-tech plant owned by Pharmaniaga’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Pharmaniaga LifeSciences. Sdn Bhd, in Puchong, Selangor.
“Alhamdulillah, so far everything is going according to plan.
“By virtue of the fact that Pharmaniaga is directly owned by Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT), the defense team is taking good care (of the situation) and providing all necessary security.
“We also got the full support of the Chinese Embassy to bring the vaccine to Malaysia and at the same time our manufacturing facilities were completely upgraded (accommodating the vaccines),” he told Bernama.
Under the agreement, Pharmaniaga will carry out the CoronaVac vaccine filling and finishing process. The company had previously said that it has a filling and finishing capacity of two million doses per month and that the Sinovac vaccine will be the first to be manufactured in the country.
Updating the registration status to supply the CoronaVac vaccine in Malaysia, Hafsah said that the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency is likely to grant approval in early March.
“We hope to get it in this, two weeks. Once approved, we can immediately implement the vaccine (distribution) throughout the country,” he said.
Hafsah said the Sinovac vaccine is considered halal, or is permitted under Islamic law by Indonesia’s Ulema Council, and Pharmaniaga is in the midst of obtaining its halal certification from the Malaysian Department of Islamic Development (Jakim).
He assured that Pharmaniaga’s own manufacturing plant had been certified halal by Jakim and was confident that the vaccine would receive its certification soon.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, and Hong Kong Executive Director Carrie Lam were among the leaders who received the Sinovac vaccine. .
On the domestic front, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday spearheaded the National Covid-19 Immunization Program and became the first person in the country to be injected with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the Putrajaya Health Clinic in the Precinct 11.
Similarly, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong received his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on January 8.
According to the Guide of the National Covid-19 Immunization Program, published by the Special Committee to Ensure Access to the Supply of Covid-19 Vaccines, the efficacy of the vaccine is in the range of 50.4% to 91.25%.
People will need two doses of CoronaVac with a 14-day interval between the first and second doses to ensure its effectiveness, while the storage temperature of the vaccine is two to eight degrees Celsius.
CoronaVac is an inactivated vaccine, which uses killed virus particles to trigger the body’s immune response to a virus, a method commonly used in vaccines for diseases such as polio, and is suitable for people with weak immune systems. – Bernama
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