KUALA LUMPUR: Shares in Pharmaniaga Bhd rebounded in early trade Monday after a sharp selldown last week.
The pharmaceutical company 2.79%, or 2.5 sen to 92 sen. It has fallen some 7% so far this year.
Last week, the Government announced a decision to stop administering the Sinovac vaccine in the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK).
It was reported Sinovac will no longer be a part of the government’s Covid-19 vaccination roll-out, but private entities are still allowed to use it in their programmes.
Pharmaniaga clarified that the supply of the Sinovac vaccine for the PICK had been completed, with the final batch to be supplied on July 21.
Pharmaniaga’s contractual obligation with the Federal Government is to supply 12 million doses of the Sinovac Covid-19 fill and finish vaccines by its high-tech plant Pharmaniaga LifeScience Sdn Bhd (PLS).
The contract obliges Pharmaniaga to supply the vaccines within 7 months, between May and November 2021.
“Due to the surge in the number of Covid-19 cases from March 2021, Pharmaniaga has taken proactive steps to meet the needs of the country by expediting the supply of Sinovac Covid-19 vaccines by importing finished vaccines from Sinovac to be distributed in parallel with the distribution of fill and finish vaccines by PLS,” it said.
“With these efforts, Pharmaniaga has managed to supply a total of 12 million doses with the last batch of doses to be delivered on July 21, 4.5 months ahead of the initial contract schedule,” it added.
Pharmaniaga said the supply of 12 million doses of Sinovac vaccines involved six million doses for the first injection and six million doses for the second jab.
Since the number of first dose injections administered in all states is close to six million, it said the Ministry of Health has instructed the cessation of first dose administration and to continue with second dose administration.
This is to avoid insufficient number of vaccines for second dose if more than six million recipients are administered with the first dose, it said.