KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 17): Solution Group Bhd said it has obtained approval from the Ministry of Health (MoH) to begin private sales of CanSino's Convidecia Covid-19 vaccine in the country.

The approval was given to Solution's wholly-owned subsidiary, Solution Biologics Sdn Bhd, which is also the manufacturing partner of CanSino Biologics Inc in the ASEAN region.

In a statement on Wednesday (Nov 17), Solution said the CanSino vaccine will be made available to hospitals and clinics and the corporate and manufacturing sectors from early December.

The group added that it is in the midst of appointing a good distribution practice certified partner to ensure professional handling and distribution of the vaccine.

The Convidecia vaccine distributed by Solution will be available in both single- and three-dose per vial configurations.

"We would like to thank MoH for the timely approval as we have been receiving tremendous interest from the private sector for Convidecia which has an excellent safety profile and has proven to be highly effective as a homologous and heterologous booster in studies carried out in China and Argentina," said Solution deputy group managing director Datuk Dr Mohd Nazlee Bin Kamal.

He said the group has delivered 2.9 million doses of the vaccine to MoH, with the remaining 600,000 doses to be delivered by mid-December.

Meanwhile, the group has applied to the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency for Convidecia to be used as a booster shot in the National Immunisation Programme and hopes to receive the approval soon.