KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 — The Ministry of Health (MoH) has announced that conditional approval has been given to vaccines from a second AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine manufacturer for use during the pandemic.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the decision to give the green light to the manufacturer — Siam Bioscience Co Ltd from Thailand — was made by the Drug Control Authority (DCA) during a meeting today.

"The supply of AstraZeneca vaccine supplies that will be coming from manufacturer Siam Bioscience Co Ltd is expected to rapidly improve vaccination rates of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme,” he said in a statement.

The first AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine manufacturer to receive similar "conditional approval” from the DCA was Medimmune Pharma BV from the Netherlands on May 2.

Conditional approval requires the company that registered the vaccines, namely AstraZeneca Sdn Bhd, to provide government authorities with regular updates on emerging data on the vaccine.

Malaysia currently obtains AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine through two methods: Firstly, through manufacturers, and secondly, through the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) initiative, which is co-led by several international health organisations, including the World Health Organisation (WHO).