CanSino jab gets green light for use as booster

The health ministry has approved CanSino’s single-dose Convidecia Covid-19 vaccine for use as a heterologous booster.

It said in a statement that the application for the CanSino-type booster dose would be available on MySejahtera soon.

It also said that those who took the Sinovac or Cansino Bio vaccine as primer doses could take the vaccine as a booster dose.

“The eligibility period for taking this dose after the primer dose is at least three months,” it added.

Meanwhile, Solution Group Bhd deputy group managing director Mohd Nazlee Kamal said the health ministry approval would give Malaysians more options when it came to vaccines for booster shots.

Its wholly-owned subsidiary, Solution Biologics Sdn Bhd, is the Asean manufacturing partner for the Convidecia vaccine by CanSino Biologics Inc.

Nazlee said the approval meant that Convidecia could now help in the government’s push for high booster coverage in the fight against the Omicron variant, especially among vulnerable groups.

“The use of a booster shot from a different vaccine from the previous administered vaccine is also more effective with a higher immune response as compared to using the same vaccine for booster shots,” he said.