KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 — Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has said the first batch of the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine is slated to arrive in Malaysia on February 27.

In an interview with radio station BFM 89.9 earlier today, he said Sinovac’s regulatory submission is currently being reviewed by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA)

"It has not been registered by the NPRA yet, as it is still pending approval. Once Sinovac’s vaccine arrives, it will be sent to Pharmaniaga Bhd for packaging.

"There the first bulk delivery will be taken to Pharmaniaga’s manufacturing facility to be bottled and filled,” Khairy said.

The coordinating minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme added that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is scheduled to arrive in Malaysia on Sunday morning, having already left the Pfizer manufacturing facility in Belgium.

"There are some transit points as they are carrying vaccines for other countries along the way, and Malaysia will receive them on February 21,” Khairy said, adding that Malaysia will continue to receive subsequent batches from Pfizer every two weeks for a total of one million doses by the end of the first quarter of 2021.

China’s Sinovac Life Sciences Co Ltd, which develops the Sinovac vaccine, recently signed an agreement with domestic pharmaceutical group Pharmaniaga Berhad in which Pharmaniaga will manufacture two million doses of the vaccine, starting in March.

Under the agreement 14 million doses will be supplied, which will be carried out via the fill-and-finish activity.