By S BIRRUNTHA / Pic by BERNAMA

Malaysia has received 200,000 doses of the single-jab CanSino vaccine today, the first delivery out of 3.5 million doses ordered from supplier CanSino Biologics, China.

The Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (Mosti) said the finished vaccine doses were flown by MASKargo via flight MH361 from Beijing and arrived at KLIA at 7.50am this morning.

Mosti chief secretary Datuk Siti Hamisah Tapsir and Health Ministry chief secretary Datuk Mohd Shafiq Abdullah were present to witness the arrival of the vaccines.

“This supply will further enhance the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NCIP), especially in areas with low accessibility.

“This will in turn help the country to achieve its herd immunity target as outlined by the National Recovery Plan according to the set timeline,” Mosti said in a statement today.

The one-dose CanSino vaccine received conditional approval from the Drug Control Authority on June 15.

With a single dose, recipients would be considered fully vaccinated 28 days after their jabs.

Solution Biologics is the product registration holder for CanSino vaccines in Malaysia.

Currently, three types of vaccines are being administered to Malaysians under the NCIP, namely Cominarty (Pfizer BioNTech), CoronaVac (Sinovac) and AstraZeneca.  

Meanwhile, another single-dose vaccine, Johnson & Johnson, had also received conditional approval.