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It was a watershed moment when a 91-year-old woman from the UK received the first injection of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Its inoculation symbolizes the need to protect the vulnerable given the susceptibility of the elderly to disease. It also shows the willingness to receive the jab that will allow everyone to continue with their lives resuming the old normal in an ever newer normal world.
Margaret Keenan’s vaccination was made possible after the UK government approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which broke all records in terms of approvals from health authorities.
The race to find a vaccine was the top priority for the world given the great damage the coronavirus has caused to lives and livelihoods, as seen in the rubble it has caused to the global economy.
The vaccine was the first of many that are in the works and scheduled for public distribution in the coming weeks and months.
Scientists, with the benefit of unprecedented funding, have accelerated the launch of a vaccine that has worked in terms of efficacy and safety.
Malaysian companies have also come into play when they see the amount of money that can be made by delivering a vaccine to fight the virus.
The enigma of the vaccine
The pandemic has been terrible in terms of loss of human life and economic cost. About 1.6 million people around the world have lost their lives and around 70 million people have been infected by the highly contagious disease.
Global GDP is expected to contract 4.4% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund, which was a 0.8% improvement over previous projections given the better-than-expected performance of countries in the fight the pandemic.
The damage seen in the second quarter was the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, and the subsequent rebound in the third quarter was also reflected in the performance of the Malaysian economy.
After falling 17.1% in the second quarter, the country experienced a contraction of less than 2.7% in the third quarter. It took a huge injection of liquidity and social funds to prevent the economy from collapsing and people being unemployed. Money was needed to stabilize the economic impact, as evidenced by the size and spending programs of the 2021 Budget – the largest spending package in the country.
With the country losing RM300k a day for implementing the conditional movement control order (CMCO), especially in the economically important areas of the Klang Valley and Selangor, the overall cost of the pandemic would have a telling impact if nothing is done to address rate. of infection. The country was losing around RM2bil per day when the stricter MCO was in place to combat the outbreak of the virus in March.
“The pace and strength of the economic recovery depend fundamentally on the development of the virus and the availability of vaccines. As the pandemic continues to escalate on a daily basis, there is tremendous pressure to launch a vaccine quickly to contain the spread, ”says Executive Director of the Center for Socio-Economic Research, Lee Heng Guie. (photo below)
“While a successful vaccine could really boost sentiment and the economy in 2021, it will take some time to recover from a historic hit to jobs, investment and business. Also, it could take many months before enough people are given any vaccinations. Therefore, Malaysians must follow strict standard operating procedures to protect themselves against the virus. “
While the government had distributed multi-billion ringgit economic recovery packages to end a deep recession, Lee says the money allocated to buy and deliver vaccines, treatments and tests can be huge – it will seem like a small price to pay to restore the economy.
As the world moves into the recovery phase, Malaysia has stepped forward with its own program to vaccinate 70% of the population at a cost of RM3bil.
The money that is being spent on a nationwide vaccine program is not small, but it is a fraction of the cost the country had to bear during the MCO and CMCO. There has been a lot of debate about the release, given the novel nature of the vaccine. and the secret negotiations that took place to ensure the delivery of sufficient doses.
Malaysia has committed to the Covax plan and is reported to pay RM600,000 to secure three million doses. That will be enough for 10% of the population.
That number of doses would not be enough to cover 70% coverage of the target population and, separately, the government has signed an agreement with Pfizer to cover the inoculation of 20% more of the population, leaving more room for procurement. from other sources.
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Many publicly traded companies are working towards delivery of the vaccine given the huge demand for the “silver bullet” and Pharmaniaga Bhd
Group Managing Director Datuk Zulkarnain Md Eusope (pictured below) says the challenge any country is likely to face in terms of vaccine administration involves issues related to logistics, distribution and warehousing. “The vaccine requires cold chain facilities during its travel to hospitals and other vaccination centers, until the administration of the vaccine.
“Vaccines that can be stored in a standard refrigerator are easier to distribute quickly, while those that require storage and transport at temperatures below minus 70 ° C should receive special attention,” he says.
Since most health care facilities do not have enough space to store large volumes of vaccines, he feels it is necessary to consider repeat delivery of vaccines in smaller volumes “just in time.”
“It is also necessary to ensure that the vaccine reaches remote locations in Malaysia on schedule and, more importantly, this must be done in accordance with existing standards to safeguard the quality, safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
“If we look at the varieties of vaccines that we know of at the moment, most of them need two separate doses.
“As such, the government will need to establish a mechanism to ensure that vaccine recipients’ data is fully verifiable and accurate to ensure they receive their second dose of the same type of vaccine,” he says.
For its weight in gold, demand for the vaccine is expected to be high, while another aspect that needs attention is safety.
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“It is necessary to strengthen security in warehouses, during transport and also in storage places to ensure that there is no theft or infiltration. Beyond that, ensuring an orderly vaccination process without unnecessary overcrowding or, conversely, avoiding vaccination, will be a challenge that will need to be addressed, ”he says.
According to Zulkarnain, the launch of the vaccine should start with the front line and followed by vulnerable groups until it reaches its goal of vaccinating 70% of the population. “We anticipate that there will be a need created by private companies and individuals who require early vaccination to allow them to travel for business and jump-start the economy. As such, there will be demand from the private sector, but all vaccines will still have to go through a vigorous approval process by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Authority (NPRA), ”he says.
The logistical puzzle for authorities and private sector participants will not be easy to overcome and every iota of the existing infrastructure will need to be utilized to its full potential for nationwide deployment. “There are very few local manufacturers, including Pharmaniaga, who can offer their plants to be reused for filling and finishing. New entrants are unlikely to be able to do this quickly, as the installation process for a new facility will take four to five years, including good manufacturing practice (GMP) approvals.
“Pharmaniaga has been transporting vaccines for the past 26 years and has the infrastructure that includes human capital, certified warehouses, transportation networks, IT systems and approved standard operating procedures to ensure a smooth flow of vaccines.”
Go into business
With the vaccine gaining unprecedented approvals after meeting various requirements, the work done by Solution Group Bhd it is an example of what is happening towards launch by another listed party. The company recently made a private placement that raised RM28mil to build a finishing fill plant to distribute the vaccine that is developed by CanSino Biologics.
Solution Group Managing Director Barry Lim says one of the conditions of his deal with CanSino was to build a fill and finish plan to supply the vaccine to Malaysia and Asean.
Throughout each step of the process, the group was in contact with the NPRA, which depends on the Ministry of Health. NPRA approval is essential to unblock any vaccine distribution in Malaysia.
A detailed plant design has been done in consultation with the NPRA and Solution Group would need biosafety approval from the Ministry of the Environment before the vaccine can be administered, but even before it can be done, there is a testing process that the vaccine is safe.
“We must record and demonstrate the efficacy of the vaccine,” says Solution Group Deputy Managing Director Datuk Dr. Mohd Nazlee Kamal.
This is expected to be done in February, when CanSino’s interim data from the third phase trials is released and the timing of the completion of the fill and finish plant in March would coincide if the CanSino vaccine were to gain global approval.
Other than that, there is a blanket insurance indemnity that is required to protect the company, like any of the vaccine players, against lawsuits. That compensation will be awarded by the insurance companies to the vaccine developers if they pass the underwriting process.
Solution Group aims to have its filling and finishing plant that can produce 80 million vials of the vaccine per year. The plant will then be audited by NPRA. With the vaccine offering a way out of the quagmire of problems caused by the pandemic, Lee says Newsflow has indicated that the government is aiming to start Covid-19 vaccines by the first quarter of 2021.
Although the agreements now indicated that 30% of the population would be inoculated with the existing agreements, Lee says that according to the World Health Organization, 60% to 70% of the population need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity and break the Covid-19 chain. “This means that between 19.6 million and 22.9 million of the 32.7 million Malaysians must be vaccinated before life can return to normal.
“Better communication and transparency are key. The government should ease concerns over emergency use approval, the bar for determining that a vaccine is safe and effective is lower than that of normal full approvals. The public must prepare for the side effects of the vaccine, ”he says.
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