KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry's National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) has given conditional registration for the Covid-19 vaccine developed by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said with the conditional approval issued by the pharmaceutical regulator, the vaccine could now be used in Malaysia.
Khairy said this through his post on his official Twitter account today.
"I just been informed by @DGHisham (Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah) that the NPRA has given conditional registration for the Pfizer vaccine.
"We are still waiting for a few additional information from Pfizer, but this means it can be used in Malaysia.
"Congratulations NPRA on the quick registration," the Rembau member of Parliament said.
It was previously reported that Dr Noor Hisham had confirmed that NPRA on Dec 15 last year had received an application to register Pfizer vaccine in the country.
The review on documents involved clinical trials that would take between 90 to 120 days, before the conditional registration was granted to the vaccine, developed in cooperation with German company BioNTech.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba had previously announced that the government would activate the nation's Covid-19 Immunisation Plan next month once the Pfizer-BioTecNTech vaccines reach the country.
About a million Malaysians mainly frontliners and other high-risk groups including those diagnosed with chronic diseases such as kidney, heart, and lung diseases, and diabetes would be vaccinated first in the preliminary phase of the plan.
The second phase of the plan would be rolled out with the arrival of 6.2 million vaccines scheduled in April and May.
According to a report by AFP, the Pfizer vaccine requires a two-shot treatment and that it must be kept at temperatures below -70 degrees Celsius (-94 degrees Fahrenheit) for it to work effectively.