Covid-19 vaccination centres in Kelantan will stop receiving Sinovac's Covid-19 vaccine by the end of this month.
Instead, the state will be supplied with Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech.
Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said this is because Malaysia has ordered 45.7 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, compared to the 15.9 million Sinovac vaccine doses the country purchased.
“In Kelantan, we will transition the vaccine (from Sinovac) to Pfizer because before this, many states were given Sinovac doses… we need to reserve the (remaining) Sinovac doses for the second dose (for those who have already received the Sinovac vaccine for their first dose),” Adham said in a press conference held in Putrajaya and live-streamed online today.
Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham added that the Pfizer vaccine is now the “main vaccine” being used in the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP).
“We have acquired a lot of the Pfizer vaccine. A lot will be replaced with the Pfizer vaccine… so we will ramp up the usage of the Pfizer vaccine in vaccination centres (PPVs),” Noor Hisham said at the same press conference.
Earlier today, Kelantan Health Department director Dr Zaini Hussin (above), when contacted, confirmed that he had issued the directive on the vaccine change.
"Yes, that is the plan. But there will be no reduction in the overall supply," he told Malaysiakini today when asked to respond to the circulation of a notice on the vaccine change signed by him, dated July 13.
The notice states that from July 18, the remaining Covid-19 vaccines from Sinovac should only be used as a second dose shot.
This is to cater to recipients who have already received their first dose of the Sinovac vaccine for the Covid-19.
At present, Malaysia has a no mixing policy of Covid-19 vaccine brands.
After the second dose is administered, the use of the Sinovac vaccine in the state will cease.
"The supply of the Sinovac vaccine to Kelantan will cease at the end of July 2021 and will be replaced by the Pfizer vaccine," the notice states.
Asked for an explanation, Zaini said he was not sure of the decision.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin's office has yet to respond to a request for an explanation on this.
Khairy is the coordinating minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme and he oversees the supply of vaccines across the country.
To date, Pharmaniaga has delivered 11.5 million out of the 12.4 million Covid-19 vaccines from Sinovac ordered by the government. It's expected to complete the remaining order by next week.
Going forward, the country will receive large supplies of Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech after the government significantly boosted orders in May. - Mkini
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