Coronavirus: Malaysia reaches vaccine deal with AstraZeneca
- The deal, to be signed Monday, will allow immunisation of about 20 per cent of Malaysia’s population
- The agreement with AstraZeneca follows on the heels of last month’s pact to buy 12.8 million vaccine doses from Pfizer-BioNTech
The AstraZeneca deal, to be signed on Monday, will allow immunisation of about 20 per cent of Malaysia’s population of 32 million, similar to that of the deal with US giant Pfizer Inc and its German partner BioNTech, Health Minister Adham Baba said.
The Southeast Asian nation has seen a spike in cases since September, with nearly 92,000 cases of the new coronavirus and 433 Covid-19 deaths.
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Malaysia expects to receive enough vaccines to inoculate 10 per cent of the population through the global Covax Facility, backed by the World Health Organization, Adham said in a statement. The government is working to secure more deals to expand inoculation to 70 per cent of the population, he said.
“What is important is which company can provide us quick access to their vaccine and that it must be safe, effective and of high quality,” he said.
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Under the Pfizer deal, Malaysia will receive one million doses in the first quarter of 2021 and 1.7 million, 5.8 million and 4.3 million doses in the subsequent quarters.
Pfizer-BioNTech have supply deals with several countries, including the United States, Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia and Britain. They expect to produce up to 50 million doses of vaccines in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.
More than 150 potential vaccines are being developed and tested globally to stop the Covid-19 pandemic, with 48 in human trials, the WHO says.
