Health ministry to seek Cabinet approval for procurement of bivalent vaccines

Health ministry to seek Cabinet approval for procurement of bivalent vaccines

The ministry is finalising talks with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer-BioNTech, says Dr Zaliha Mustafa.

The government is procuring bivalent Covid-19 vaccines to provide improved protection against new subvariants. (AP pic)

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated after the health ministry clarified that it was seeking the Cabinet’s approval for the procurement of the bivalent vaccines.

KUALA LUMPUR:
The health ministry will seek approval from the Cabinet to proceed with the procurement of bivalent Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech.

Health minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said the ministry had discussed the procurement with the pharmaceutical company.

“They (Pfizer-BioNTech) are the ones marketing the bivalent (vaccine). The agreement is still in the process (of being finalised),” she told reporters here today.

In March, Zaliha had said the ministry was in talks with Pfizer-BioNTech over its supply of the bivalent vaccines, and the distribution date would be announced once the negotiations had concluded.

The ministry’s Drug Control Authority had earlier approved conditional registration for the bivalent vaccine.

The bivalent vaccine is essentially an upgraded version of Covid-19 vaccines that contain the spike protein of the original strain and also those of the Omicron subvariants BA.1 and BA.4-5.

They are aimed at providing improved protection against new subvariants.

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