KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 ― Covid-19 vaccine company AstraZeneca has confirmed its delivery of 586,700 doses of vaccines to Malaysia by early July.

This will be followed by additional deliveries in the weeks and months to come, the company said in a statement today.

"Over 828,000 doses of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine have been delivered to Malaysia to date.

"In addition, AstraZeneca is on track to deliver 6.4 million doses between now and early next year and will support the delivery of millions more through Covax (Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access) and (other) donations," the company said.

According to AstraZeneca Malaysia country president Dr Sanjeev Panchal, the latest delivery estimates for Malaysia demonstrates the value of the government, industry and others working together to support health and economic revival. 

"As we continue to fight the pandemic and its impact, we will continue to work closely with the government and others throughout the current surge of cases, to put Malaysia on a path back to normality as quickly as possible,” he said in the statement also indicating that the next direct deliveries mark an increase in AstraZeneca's supply capacity for Asia-Pacific, via seven supply chains established within the region.

The company added that it has close to 30 million doses of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine delivered across the Association of South-east Asian Nations to date while over 600 million doses of the vaccine have been released for supply to 168 countries worldwide.

On June 10, Reuters reported that AstraZeneca was working closely with South-east Asia governments to ensure its Covid-19 vaccine is supplied "as quickly as possible”, after reported delays in deliveries of orders from a Thai plant owned by the country's powerful king.

Malaysia and Taiwan that week became the latest in the region to warn they expected delays in deliveries of AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured in Thailand.

In the report, it also said that Malaysia had been due to receive 610,000 doses from Thailand in June and 1.6 million later this year, but its minister in charge of vaccine procurement Khairy Jamaluddin said on June 8 that the Malaysian government was expecting some delays.