THE National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency has granted conditional approval for China’s CoronaVac vaccine – popularly known as Sinovac – to be administered to adolescents aged 12 to 17, director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today.

The vaccine, which will be the second brand to be administered to children in those age groups under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, is produced by China’s Sinovac Life Sciences Co Ltd and Malaysia’s Pharmaniaga Lifesciences Sdn Bhd.

“CoronaVac had previously gotten conditional registration for use among individuals 18 years of age and older.

“This is the second Covid-19 vaccine approved for use in adolescents after the same approval was given to the Cominarty vaccine, a product of Pfizer-BioNTech, in June 2021,” Noor Hisham said in a statement today.

Noor Hisham said that the CoronaVac vaccine would be prioritised for adolescents without comorbidities, have allergy issues and those who cannot receive the Pfizer vaccine.

Evaluation for the use of CoronaVac among adolescents with comorbidities will continue once sufficient data are submitted, he said.

In July, the Health Ministry said that it would stop administering the CoronaVac vaccine once its stocks are used up.

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The then Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said they would increase the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine under the immunisation programme, with Malaysia having procured more than 45 million doses of this brand.

The vaccination programme for adolescents began on September 8 and, as of yesterday, 52,774 children, or 1.7% of the age category have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 while 1.44 million of them, or 47.6%, have received one of two Pfizer shots.

Meanwhile, about 20.25 million people, or 62% of the Malaysian population, have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as of yesterday, which includes 86.3% of the adult population. – October 1, 2021.