KUALA LUMPUR (June 15): Covid-19 vaccines produced by China's CanSino Biologics and the US' Johnson & Johnson (J&J) have been given conditional approval for their usage in Malaysia as both vaccines require only one dose to be effective, according to Ministry of Health (MoH) director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. 

In a statement today, Noor Hisham said the Drug Control Authority (DCA) had also approved the usage of the Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech for those aged 12 years old and above. 

“Comirnaty, previously approved for conditional registration on Jan 8, 2021, is used for the purpose of active immunisation of individuals 18 years of age and older. 

“Although these additional indications have been approved, the MoH is of the view that the priority of vaccination is still high-risk groups, in line with the existing policy set under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK),” it said. 

The MoH added that the conditional approval for these vaccines requires information on the quality, safety and effectiveness of the vaccine products to be monitored and evaluated based on the latest data from time to time.

“This is to ensure that the comparison of benefits over risks for the vaccine products remains positive.

“The MoH will always improve the level of public health in combating the Covid-19 epidemic through the procurement of vaccine supplies that have been evaluated in terms of quality, safety and effectiveness by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Division (NPRA) and approved by the DCA,” it stressed.

Meanwhile, National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin lauded the approval for the single-dose vaccines (CanSino and J&J) and the usage of the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 12 years old and above.

“This is a major development that will help get more jabs into arms as soon as possible,” he said in a tweet today.

Separately, Malaysia administered its highest daily vaccination rate with 197,963 doses delivered yesterday (June 14), according to the latest data from the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV).

A total of 142,890 individuals received their first dose, while the remaining 55,073 received their second jab yesterday. In total, 4.69 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered thus far.