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PETALING JAYA: Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine may be too small and too late for Malaysia, and this is a concern that the government is currently addressing with the manufacturer, says Khairy Jamaluddin.
The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation said that the government is interested in the
Johnson & Johnson vaccine because it is a single dose that is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and has shown good efficacy against several variants of Covid-19, including the South African strain.
“We are quite happy with the option, if we can get it. I think there are many concerns on our part. First is the number of doses Johnson & Johnson offers. They don’t offer us that many and that’s quite disappointing.
“Second, the delivery schedule is quite behind. It is at the end of the year.
“We have raised this with Johnson & Johnson as a concern, that they are prioritizing rich countries and we get the bottom line of this this year, and that the doses that are offered are not that much, just a little over two million dose, “Khairy said
The Star in a virtual interview recently.
The government is still in talks with the vaccine maker to increase the number of doses and
to speed up the delivery date from the third or fourth quarter of the year to the second quarter, or even the first part of the third quarter.
“In terms of cost, Johnson & Johnson is the most competitively priced vaccine,” said Khairy.
At the time of the interview, the National Drug Regulatory Agency (NPRA) has only approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, while Malaysia has agreements with four other vaccine manufacturers: Sinovac from China, Gamaleya (Sputnik V) from Russia, AstraZeneca (UK) and CamSinoBIO single-dose vaccine (China) which has not yet been evaluated by NPRA.
In a related development on Tuesday, the Health Ministry granted conditional approval for AstraZeneca’s “Solution for Injection” vaccine, as well as Sinovac’s “CoronaVac Suspension for Injection.”
Tan Sri Chief Health Officer Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah said conditional registration requires holding companies to submit an analysis of the most recent data through ongoing submission, which will be evaluated by NPRA.
Malaysia received last Saturday the first batch of CoronaVac vaccine from China, developed by Sinovac Life Sciences Co Ltd. It is stored at the Pharmaniaga facility, where it will be processed in 300,000 doses.
The vaccine from the Beijing plant arrived in bulk for a total of 200 liters and was then transported to the Pharmaniaga plant in Taman Perindustrian Puchong.
Khairy, who has also been actively interacting with many through social media, said there are currently no plans to take punitive action against those who are against vaccines, but reminded them that their “messages” would be monitored.
The cabinet, he added, had also agreed to an emergency ordinance related to fake or false news against vaccines.
“An emergency ordinance is coming, Saifuddin will announce it. The Cabinet has discussed it, but let him announce it, ”he said, referring to the Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.
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