Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said this decision was made at a meeting with the ministry’s Drug Control Authority (DCA) today.

“This second manufacturer (Siam Bioscience) will also be a supplier for the AstraZeneca vaccine used under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme,” Noor Hisham said, adding that this would help speed up the vaccination rate.

The DCA previously gave conditional approval for the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by MedImmune Pharma BV in the Netherlands, which supplies to European countries.

Noor Hisham said the government procured the AstraZeneca vaccine directly from the manufacturer and through the Covax facility.

He said the conditional approval required the product registration holder, AstraZeneca Sdn Bhd, to submit updated data on the vaccine from time to time to ensure constant quality, efficacy and safety.