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PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia had opted for the Covid-19 vaccine produced by the UK (UK) pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca through negotiations under the COVAX facility that will guarantee supply for another 10 percent of the country’s population.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said this will see AstraZeneca’s offer rise to 20 percent after a previous 10 percent acquisition through direct negotiation with the company.
“The delivery of the vaccine by AstraZeneca through COVAX is being finalized, but we have been told it will be between March and June next year.
“Through direct negotiation, in the meantime, (Malaysia) will receive the first shipment in April or May 2021,” he told a press conference on the development to procure Covid-19 vaccines here today.
Malaysia previously joined the COVAX facilities under the ‘Optional Purchase Agreement’ agreement that allows the government to select vaccine manufacturing companies participating in COVAX to source supplies for 10 percent of the country’s population.
Khairy, who is also co-chair of the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Assurance Special Committee (JKJAV), said the government had also consulted with the pharmaceutical company Pfizer about the option of adding another 20% vaccine supply if it were. necessary.
“The reason (is) because in the United States only two types of vaccines have been approved, which are Pfizer and Moderna and we know that it is a sure thing,” he said.
Khairy said Malaysia had previously finalized the agreement to supply 12.8 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer, which is expected to arrive in the country in stages starting in February 2021.
On the new Covid-19 virus mutation in the UK, he said that Pfizer was monitoring the effectiveness of its vaccine and needed six weeks to make changes if it is found to be less effective against the new strain.
Khairy said the government is also in the final stages of negotiations with three other Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing companies, China’s Sinovac and CanSinoBIO, and Russia’s Gamaleya National Center, as long as those companies can add value to vaccine development. from the country.
“This includes doing the fill-finish (bottling) process, then we buy the vaccine in bulk, we bring it here, and the bottling is done here. This is an important process before we have the ability to carry out the entire vaccine development process, “he said.
Khairy said the government was also looking for companies that could forge partnerships in research and development (R&D), as well as technology transfer with local companies.
He said the government is negotiating access to 14 million doses of Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine and 6.4 million doses of Gamaleya, both of which are two-dose vaccines, while the agreement with CanSinoBIO involves 3.5 million. of single-dose vaccines.
Overall, Khairy said that all the deals would cover 82.8 percent of Malaysia’s population, at a total cost of RM2.50 billion.
On Malaysia’s delay in getting the Covid-19 vaccine compared to some countries like Singapore and Canada, he said that the country’s financial position was not on par with other developed countries.
“No company can provide 100 percent supply to Malaysia because developed countries bought (the vaccines) before us, since they can offer more and they can make decisions because their budgets are much larger than ours.
“Canada, for example, has bought enough vaccines to give its people five times more. They have a population coverage of 500%. Our pockets are not that deep, “he said. -Called
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