Previously, the vaccine had only been approved for those aged 18 and above.

He added that the health ministry had also given conditional approval for the use of the single-dose vaccines CanSino and Johnson & Johnson in the country.

The two decisions were made at today’s meeting by the Drug Control Authority, an agency under the health ministry, he said.

According to Noor Hisham, the approval for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, to be procured through the Covax vaccine facility, will be done by way of recognition on the vaccine’s emergency use listing status under the World Health Organization.

“The health ministry wishes to inform that conditional registration approvals require information that the quality, safety and efficacy of the vaccine products are monitored and evaluated based on the latest data from time to time,” he said.

He added that this was to ensure positive benefit to risk ratios.