KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 — The National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) has given conditional registration approval for the use of Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine on adolescents aged 12 to 17.
The country’s pharmaceutical regulatory body, however, recommended that Sinovac’s CoronaVac jab be prioritised for teenagers without underlying health conditions and who have allergies or are contraindicated to receive the Pfizer mNRA vaccine.
“Evaluation on the use of CoronaVac on teenagers with comorbidities will be continued as soon as we receive sufficient data,” Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement, after the Drug Control Authority’s meeting earlier today approved Sinovac for adolescents.
Last June, Indonesia issued emergency use authorisation of the coronavirus vaccine by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac for children aged 12 to 17 years.
As of yesterday, nearly 48 per cent of Malaysia’s population aged 12 to 17 have received at least one vaccine dose, including 1.7 per cent fully vaccinated.
