Malaysia’s DCA gives conditional approval for single-dose CanSino and J&J vaccines, okays Pfizer jabs for 12-year-olds and above

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) has also approved the usage of the Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNtech to those aged 12 years old and above. 

“Comirnaty, previously approved as conditional registration on January 8, 2021, is used for the purpose of active immunisation to 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 to high-risk groups in line with the existing policy set under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK),” it said. 

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

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

“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, PICK Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin lauded the approval of single-dose vaccines (CanSino and Johnson & Johnson) and the usage of 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.

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