Malaysia orders additional batch of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Malaysian government has ordered an additional batch of COVID-19 vaccines from Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac, Malaysian pharmaceutical company Pharmaniaga said on Thursday.

Pharmaniaga's wholly-owned subsidiary Pharmaniaga LifeScience Sdn Bhd (PLS) had secured an acceptance letter from the health ministry for the additional doses of Sinovac CoronaVac vaccines, the company said in a statement.

Pharmaniaga group managing director Zulkarnain Md Eusope said the additional order attests to the trust by the government on the effectiveness of the vaccine.

"We are honored and grateful for the trust given by the government to continue our supply and distribution of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine in order to help maintain the current high vaccination rate momentum," he said.

Sinovac and Pharmaniaga in January signed an agreement for cooperation on the local fill-and-finish process for the COVID-19 vaccine, representing a milestone for Malaysia's pharmaceutical industry.

The government had previously secured 12.4 million doses of the vaccine from Pharmaniaga followed by an order for 2 million more doses in July. With the latest order, the company's total supply is now 20.4 million doses.

Both the finished products of Sinovac vaccines imported from China and the ones manufactured by Pharmaniaga have been used in Malaysia's national immunization program after receiving approval from the country's regulators.

As of Wednesday, over 16.3 million people or 50.1 percent of the total population have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines and some 9.5 million or 29.1 percent are fully vaccinated.