Covid-19: M'sia to receive 1,000,350 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by end March, says Khairy

PETALING JAYA: By the end of March, the country would receive 1,000,350 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, says Khairy Jamaluddin.

The Science, Technology and Innovation Minister said Pfizer has sent an additional 83,070 vaccine doses on Monday (March 15), and will send another 124,020 doses on March 22.

He added that an additional 125,190 doses from Pfizer will be delivered on March 29.

Khairy also said the country also received 100,000 doses from Sinovac on Monday.

He said the government has agreements with various vaccine producers that surpassed the country's needs as not all vaccines have received approval from the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA).

"We bought more to mitigate the regulatory approval, and also to mitigate the delivery risk as we were afraid that there would be a delay in delivery.

"For example, for AstraZeneca, we were supposed to receive the vaccine in the first quarter of the year but till now we have yet to receive the delivery schedule. So, it is better if we have more vaccines in our portfolio," he said at a joint press conference with Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba on the latest updates of the Covid-19 Immunisation Programme on Monday (March 15).

Khairy noted that the country so far has procured the Pfizer-BioNTech, Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines, adding that other vaccines such as Sputnik V and Cansino have not received regulatory approval yet.

He also said it was better to have a stockpile of vaccines as there was a possibility that booster shots might be needed to be given next year if the Covid-19 pandemic was still raging.

"We might also see the need of the vaccines to be given to children as Pfizer and AstraZeneca are currently conducting clinical trials on those aged 12 to 16 years old. If this is approved then we need to have additional stock to be given to children who are now not listed as recipients of the vaccine," he said.