KUALA LUMPUR – The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme will not be derailed if the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is slated for use in the country, fails to meet safety standards.
The jab has been subjected to a further review by the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee following reported cases of blood clots among recipients abroad.
Since the vaccine has not yet been delivered to Malaysia, the supply chain will not face hitches, Universiti Sains Malaysia immunologist Prof Norazmi Mohd Nor told The Vibes.
“The registration (rate) of the Malaysian population for the immunisation programme via the MySejahtera app is still low at just a little over 30%.
“But, there is little likelihood that the overall vaccination programme will be disrupted.”
On April 6, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said Malaysia would take delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccine as planned, ensuring that the national inoculation drive proceeded as scheduled.
The government was confident in the conditional approval issued by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) for the vaccine’s use in the country, he had said.
The World Health Organisation has said there is no reason to halt the use of the jab as the data shows no evidence of a link between it and blood clots.
However, 18 nations, including Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland, have suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine as a precautionary measure.
The vaccine received conditional approval from NPRA on March 2.
Khairy Jamaluddin, the coordinating minister for Malaysia’s immunisation programme, on Saturday said the European Medicines Agency has announced a possible link between the vaccine and rare cases of blood clots.
Malaysia’s inoculation campaign began on February 24.
To date, 583,903 people have received their first Covid-19 vaccine dose, and 395,891 have been administered both, said Khairy today.
He said 8.51 million people have registered for Covid-19 vaccination.
At least 80% of the population needs to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.
The vaccines approved for use in Malaysia are those produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and China’s Sinovac.
The Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine, and those by AstraZeneca and China’s CanSino, are awaiting NPRA approval. – The Vibes, April 12, 2021
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