KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — The National Pharmaceutical Regulation Agency (NPRA) is assessing the suitability of using the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine in Malaysia.
Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin was responding to a question in today’s joint news conference with the Health Ministry on whether the US-made vaccine will be approved to be used in helping inoculate undocumented migrants in Malaysia.
Khairy who is also the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating minister, said in March that Malaysia was in talks to procure the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
He had expressed concerns about the supply then, adding that Johnson & Johnson had only offered some two million doses to Malaysia, and would only be able to deliver them towards the end of the year.
He said at the time that discussions were ongoing to improve the terms of the proposal.
The NPRA has so far conditionally approved at least three Covid-19 vaccines — one from UK firm AstraZeneca, one from China’s Sinovac, and one by US drugmaker Pfizer together with its German partner BioNTech.
Although the approval of the vaccines ware expedited due to the urgent need to curb the Covid-19 pandemic, these companies are required to ongoingly provide more data on their vaccines to ensure the vaccines’ effectiveness and safety.
