Malaysia Signs Vaccine Deal With AstraZeneca, in Talks With Gamaleya Center, Reports Say

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Malaysian Prime Minister said that Kuala Lumpur had signed an agreement with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to procure 6.4 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine, while also being in talks with China's Sinovac and CanSino, as well as Russia's Gamaleya research centre to procure additional doses, according to national media.

AstraZeneca will thus provide vaccination coverage for another 10 percent of the Malaysian population, Malay Mail reported. The Asian nation previously entered agreements to purchase vaccines for 30 percent of the country's population from Pfizer-BioNTech and COVAX.

The publication reported, citing Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, that Malaysia was now on track to get enough vaccine doses to surpass the rate needed for herd immunity against coronavirus.

"After signing deals with COVAX, Pfizer & Astra Zeneca and finalising agreements with Sinovac, CanSino & Gamaleya, we will have vaccines for almost 83% of our population at RM 2.05bn [$500 million]," Jamaluddin said on Twitter.

The prime minister also noted that the first batch of one million doses of the Pfizer vaccine will be delivered to Malaysia in February 2021.