Malaysia has received the second batch of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine through COVAX.
Today’s batch of 559,200 doses of the vaccine follows the first shipment of 268,800 doses already received in April.
With the arrival of the second batch of doses, Malaysia has to-date received a total of 828,000 of the Covid-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca through the COVAX facility.
Dr Sanjeev Panchal, Country President, AstraZeneca Malaysia said, “AstraZeneca’s partnership with COVAX is part of our commitment to ensuring broad and equitable access to the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine at no profit during the pandemic. We are proud to be partnering with governments and COVAX partners to deliver the vaccine to countries including Malaysia at an unprecedented scale.”
“Through our partnership-driven approach, millions of our vaccine doses have been delivered to date, with the majority to low and middle-income countries. We are committed to doing our part to help bring an end to this pandemic and the devastating impact it has had on health, society and the global economy,” Dr Sanjeev added.
Distribution of the vaccine follows the Emergency Use Listing in February by the World Health Organization for active immunisation in individuals 18 years of age and older, providing a vital and accelerated pathway to access.
The doses have been allocated according to the COVAX Allocation Framework which determines volume per participating country based on several factors.
“In this early phase of Covid-19 vaccine roll-out through COVAX, vaccine manufacturers require time to scale and optimise their production processes. AstraZeneca is working in adherence to the highest safety and quality standards and processes for product release in the context of a newly established global COVAX supply and distribution network during a global pandemic, which is a complex and collaborative effort,” Dr Sanjeev said.
AstraZeneca was the first global pharmaceutical company to join COVAX in June 2020 in line with the company’s shared commitment to global, equitable access to vaccines.
