SEPANG, Feb 21 — Registration for the Covid-19 vaccination, to commence on March 1, will remain open until it reaches the target of 80 per cent of the population have received the vaccine, said Coordinating Minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Khairy Jamaluddin.

"Registration will remain open until we reach our target of 70 to 80 percent of Malaysians (to receive the vaccine),” said Khairy, who is also the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation.

He said this at a press conference after witnessing the arrival of the first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine here today.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah was previously reported to have said that the Ministry of Health (MOH) had identified several methods identified several methods that the public could use to register, and it would also identify target groups to ensure they received the vaccination.

Meanwhile, on the status of other vaccine candidates that will be accepted by the country, Khairy said the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) was doing its best to obtain additional information on the vaccine before it was given approval.

"NPRA, for instance, for the Sputnik V vaccine, have asked additional information from Duopharma Biotech Bhd and Russia’s Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology.

"I can assure you that NPRA is doing their best to expedite the regulatory approval process for the other vaccine candidates,” he said.

Khairy said the Sinovac vaccine is scheduled to arrive on Feb 27 but is still awaiting NPRA approval while the delivery schedule for the AstraZeneca vaccine will be received this March.

As at February 2021, Malaysia has had access to a supply of 66.7 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine through the COVAX Facility and early purchases from five Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers.

It includes two-dose vaccines including from Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Sinovac Life Sciences Co Ltd (Sinovac) and CanSinoBIO, while one-dose vaccines from Sputnik V.

In the meantime, the government will also sign the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine procurement contract from the United States in the near future. — Bernama