Stating that so far only three vaccines have received conditional approval for emergency purposes by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA), namely Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinovac, the former Johor menteri besar said more vaccines are needed.

As of Monday, coordinating minister for the vaccine roll-out Khairy Jamaluddin said that in addition to Sputnik, China’s CanSino and the US’ Johnson & Johnson vaccine are currently being reviewed by the NPRA.

“Most of these vaccines have been approved by international regulatory agencies and have undergone a variety of highly complex and comprehensive clinical tests,” Khaled said in a statement.

“Vaccines like Sputnik V, for example, have a very high efficacy and their data has been published in the Lancet, the (world’s) most authoritative medical journal which publishes only the best research.

“We cannot be too optimistic that our supply of vaccines will be adequate because we are so dependent on external supplies,” he added.

Khaled’s comments mirrored that of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who said earlier today that Malaysia should consider using vaccines that have already received conditional approval for use in developed countries rather than wasting time conducting additional reviews.

The Pakatan Harapan Covid-19 vaccination committee has also urged the government and the NPRA to speed up approvals for vaccines already passed by the World Health Organization and international authorities.

Apart from speeding up the national vaccination process, Khaled said that having a diverse range of vaccines to choose from will ensure that Malaysia is better prepared for the long-term.

“Many countries have reserved supplies for the next four years to ensure they have adequate stock of vaccines, because no one can predict when this pandemic will end,” said Khaled.

“Our public health planning must take into account a long-term approach, and we cannot continue with this ‘firefighting’ strategy.”