KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia on Tuesday received the first batch of locally filled and finished doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech.
File photo: Agencies
The first batch of 290,480 doses manufactured by Malaysia's leading pharmaceutical company Pharmaniaga were handed over to Health Minister Adham Baba in a brief ceremony on Tuesday.
Pharmaniaga said the company had recently obtained a lot release approval for its filled and finished product from Malaysia's National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA), which allowed the vaccines to be distributed to the Health Ministry designated health facilities.
Sinovac and Pharmaniaga in January signed an agreement for cooperation on the locally fill and finish process for the COVID-19 vaccine, representing a milestone for Malaysia with the product being the first ever human vaccine produced locally.
Pharmaniaga said it is currently operating at a full production capacity, being able to produce some 2 million doses per month, and that it had manufactured more than 1.2 million doses as of May 10.
