Pharmaniaga offers Sinovac to health ministry for use as booster

 

Pharmaniaga says it has enough vaccines to cater to the booster needs of the nation.

PETALING JAYA: Pharmaniaga Berhad has offered the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine to the health ministry for use as a booster shot for Sinovac recipients.

This comes in response to Johor DAP committee member Dr Boo Cheng Hau, who said yesterday that of the elderly he had been asked to immunise, 20% of Sinovac recipients rejected the Pfizer vaccine currently being used as a booster as they felt comfortable with the vaccine used for their original course of vaccination.

In a statement today, Pharmaniaga group managing director Zulkarnain Md Eusope said the company is in the final stages of discussion to register the vaccine as a booster shot with the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) and expect it to be approved soon.

“We hope once the NPRA approves the application, the government will give the green light for the vaccine to be administered as a booster shot for Sinovac recipients.

“The majority of Sinovac recipients received their second dose between June and September. As such, the requirement for a booster shot will start from December and we have enough doses to cater to the needs of the nation,” he said.

Zulkarnain pointed out that Sinovac’s vaccine had already been approved for use as a booster in China, Turkey, Chile, Indonesia and Cambodia, with an additional six countries waiting for approval from local authorities.

Currently, the vaccine has been approved by the NPRA for use on those over the age of 12, but only as far as its original two-dose regime. - FMT