KUALA LUMPUR – China-made Covid-19 vaccine Sinopharm is expected to get a conditional approval from the National National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) for use in Malaysia.
Health-Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said NPRA will be making the announcement tomorrow.
In May, AFP reported that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had approved the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use – the first China-made jab to receive the WHO’s green light.
The UN health agency signed off on the two-dose vaccine, which is already being deployed in dozens of countries around the world.
The WHO had already given emergency use listing to the vaccines being made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and the AstraZeneca jab being produced at sites in India and in South Korea, which it counts separately.
On another matter, Dr Noor Hisham said the Covid-19 Delta variant can infect close contacts within five seconds and compared to 15 minutes for other variants.
“Additionally, the Delta variant is also airborne,” he said.
Despite its high infectivity rate, Dr Noor Hisham assured that the increased vaccination rates will eventually contain the spread of the Delta variant.
“We have managed to prevent the spread of the Delta variant in Labuan within the period of two weeks when the vaccination levels for the second dose reached 52%.
“Vaccination percentage for the first dose in Labuan is at 87%. Despite Labuan suffering from the spread of the Delta variant, the moment the second dose percentage reached 52%, the number of infections dropped significantly despite its fast-spreading nature.
“Labuan only recorded 26 cases, today,” he said
As such, Dr Noor Hisham said the increase in vaccination rates will also result in reduction of the Covid-19 spread especially the Delta variant in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur as well.
His announcement comes on the heels of the country recording its highest number of daily Covid-19 cases yet with 13,215 cases compared to just over 11,000 cases, yesterday.
Dr Noor Hisham reported that Selangor logged a shocking 6,120 fresh cases, followed by Negri Sembilan (1,603) and Kuala Lumpur (1,499).
Kedah saw 695 cases, Johor (599), Penang (509), Melaka (484), Sabah (370), Sarawak (363), Perak (344), Kelantan (255) and Pahang (222).
Terengganu registered 70 infections, Putrajaya (53), Labuan (26) and Perlis (3).
In all, the nation has seen 880,782 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began. – The Vibes, July 15, 2021
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