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PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia will take a wait-and-see approach in developing Covid-19 vaccines around the world before committing, says CEO of Health.
Tan Sri, Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah, said the ministry will wait for the reports of clinical trials conducted with various Covid-19 vaccines to be released so that they can be analyzed.
He said that even though there are 11 vaccines in phase three of clinical trials, there have been no reports so far.
“Hopefully, we can get the reports and analyze in terms of the safety and efficacy of the vaccines.
“We hope that (the development) is positive. We will examine the details thoroughly.
“So we will wait for phase three of the clinical trial to conclude first before we can commit,” he said at his Covid-19 press conference here yesterday.
Dr. Noor Hisham was asked about the announcement by the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc and the German biotechnology firm BioNTech that the vaccine they were developing had a 90% efficacy rate.
He said the disclosure that the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine needed to be stored at a temperature of minus 80 ° C was challenging.
“Obviously, there are many logistical problems. We will have to provide the low temperature infrastructure before we can acquire the vaccine.
“This is an ongoing logistical assessment. That is why it is important that we have to review the data from phase three clinical trials before committing ourselves, ”he said.
Citing one example, Dr. Noor Hisham said that Malaysia was in a similar dilemma with the dengue vaccine.
“Once upon a time, we were researching a dengue vaccine.
“Although it was marketable, we did not go ahead because there were issues with safety during the phase three clinical trial,” he said.
Dr Noor Hisham said reports of mutated Covid-19 strains found abroad were also of concern to the ministry.
“In Denmark, there is a mutated strain of Covid-19 that is found in mink. We don’t know the actual effects, but we are concerned that if a mutation did occur, it could have an effect on current vaccine development around the world.
“Another concern is that the mutation may cause those who have been infected with Covid-19 to contract the virus again,” he said.
said.
Meanwhile, Malaysia registered 869 new cases of Covid-19 yesterday, bringing the total infections to 42,050. The death toll nationwide rose to 300 with six more deaths reported.
Dr Noor Hisham revealed that recoveries were now at 30,304, with 725 patients discharged yesterday. There are 11,446 active cases.
Currently, 82 patients are being treated in intensive care units, and 27 require ventilation.
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