KUALA LUMPUR, 15 March — Malaysia will receive 1,000,350 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine by the end of this month, said Khairy Jamaluddin, The Malaysian Science and Technology Minister.
Jamaluddin said that Pfizer has sent an additional 83,070 vaccine doses on Monday (15 March), and will send 124,020 doses on 22 March. Another 125,190 doses will be received on 29 March, according to the minister.
He also announced that Malaysia received 100,000 doses from the Chinese vaccine Sinovac on Monday (15 March), as the Malaysian government has agreements with various producers that surpassed the country’s needs because not all vaccines have received approval from the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA).
Jamaluddin noted that Malaysia so far has obtained the Pfizer-BioNTech, Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines, while other vaccines such as the Russian Sputnik V and the Chinese Cansino have not received regulatory approval from the NPRA yet.
Malaysian Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said tweeted today that 301,699 people had already received the first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, as of 14 March 2021.
The first phase of the National Vaccination Programme includes frontliners and ends in April. The second Phase will include senior citizens and people with comorbidities.
Source: ASWAQ/The Star/Agencies
