Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Government Malaysia said it would stop the use of vaccines produced in China, Sinovac, for the national Covid-19 vaccination program in the neighboring country.
As reported ReutersIn a press conference on Thursday (15/7), Malaysian Health Minister Adham Baba reasoned that the discontinuation of the use of Sinovac was because the neighboring country still had sufficient supplies of other vaccines for the national vaccination program.
Therefore, he continued, the use of Sinovac will only be carried out until the supply runs out.
Adham said that currently Malaysia is using more and more mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech.
“For those who have not been vaccinated, they will receive the Pfizer vaccine,” Adham said.
So far it is known, Malaysia has pocketed 12 million doses of Sinovac vaccine which is enough to inoculate 18.75 percent of the population.
Meanwhile, quoting from the Malaysian news agency, Named, reported that along with developments, Kelantan will stop using Sinovac and replace it with Pfizer at the end of July.
As quoted from The Star, Director of the Kelantan Department of Health Zaini Hussin, said, “Starting Sunday (18 July), all vaccination centers in Kelantan will only be given the second dose of Sinovac vaccine which is sufficient. [sesuai pasokan tersisa].”
Zaini said that the first dose of Sinovac would no longer be given starting July 13.
In tackling the Covid pandemic in Malaysia, the neighboring country’s government previously stated that the approved vaccines were Sinovac, AstraZeneca, China’s CanSino Biologic, and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine.
Malaysia also plans on Friday to announce its decision on whether to add China’s Sinopharm vaccine.
With 880,782 cases and 6,613 deaths so far, Malaysia has one of the highest infection rates per capita in Southeast Asia.
For information, Malaysia’s announcement to stop using Sinovac came amid increasing world concerns over the transmission of the new variants of the corona virus, especially Delta.
Not only Malaysia, Thailand has previously stated this week that it will use the AstraZeneca vaccine as a second dose of injection for those who were previously injected with Sinovac.
Then in Indonesia, the Indonesian government decided to inject the third dose of the vaccine as a booster for health workers who had received two doses of Sinovac. The booster that will be used is Moderna’s production.
Meanwhile, as reported by AmongThe Chinese government ensures that it continues to prioritize the safety and effectiveness of vaccines produced by Sinovac and Sinopharm companies in dealing with Covid-19. Moreover, in recent times there have been reports questioning the effectiveness of the country’s COVID-19 vaccine.
“The Chinese side consistently attaches importance to the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the emergency use of the CoronaVac vaccine made by Sinovac, it fully proves the safety and effectiveness of CoronaVac,” said Counselor for Science and Technology at the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta. , Yi Fanping, Thursday.
He explained that until last June 28, the CoronaVac vaccine had received emergency use approval from 50 countries and regions in the world, while the global injection of the CoronaVac vaccine had reached 75 million doses.
“Research data to date demonstrate the high safety and efficacy of CoronaVac against SARS-CoV-2 virus exposure prevention and pandemic control,” Fanping said.
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