Malaysia becomes a target of vaccine diplomacy

 

Over the past two weeks, everything seemed to move into top gear in the vaccine world. One by one, the three largest vaccine production groups, Oxford University-AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech announced their efficacy results.

Following swiftly on the back of this, just days ago, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency announced that it had granted emergency use authorisation for the vaccine developed by the Pfizer-BioNTech group, with vaccination of the population beginning next week.

The US and European health authorities are also quickly reviewing the data for these vaccines so that they can roll them out for their populations as well.

However, despite the buzz from the Western hemisphere about these three vaccines, let’s not forget that two other large nations namely Russia and China have also rolled out their vaccines. Russia is utilising one type of vaccine while China has produced several which are being used not just in the republic but also in other countries.

There have been many queries raised about the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccines from both countries, yet a lot of these questions seem to have been coloured by social and political undercurrents.

The introduction of the Covax facility, a global initiative put together by different organisations including the World Health Organization, adds to the complexity of the situation.

The initiative involves working with vaccine manufacturers to provide countries with equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines once they are licensed and approved. Basically, the Covax facility allows countries that participate in the initiative to obtain the Covid-19 vaccines which can be used to vaccinate up to 20% of their population.

Participating countries contribute different amounts of funds to the initiative based on their income levels, with the poorest countries having to pay the least. The contribution is then channelled to the manufacturers to support their scale-up in terms of production facilities when they do have a vaccine; according to Covax, nine vaccine candidates are being considered to be included into the scheme as and when they are approved and are found suitable to be used.

It is important to note that of the three most promising vaccines at this time, only the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine is part of the initiative.

Covax works on a similar idea as housing development schemes, which is something all of us are used to. When you launch a housing scheme, only the “show house” is put up. The developer draws all these nice plans and offers you a house for purchase based on the idea that it will be built in the near future. In fact, these “early” bookings are what helps fund the developers’ building costs.

You are purchasing a house merely by looking at the empty ground it is on. Or, in the case of a high-rise condominium or apartment, based on thin air. But when the project is completed and the certificate of fitness is out, the price of the house soars. (This is not true of the current glut in high-rise housing in the Klang Valley, of course).

Similarly, you pay or commit to pay in the Covax scheme based on the promise of a low, fixed price and the certainty that you will get the vaccine in the amounts you asked for. If not, like a large house buyers club which snaps up a lot of units leaving none for the small, single buyers, large countries or economical blocs like the EU could just offer to purchase the vaccines when they become available at higher prices than what poorer countries would be able to pay – and by doing that restrict the availability of poorer countries to get the vaccine.

Where does Malaysia lie, in terms of getting the vaccine? About two weeks ago, the prime minister announced that Malaysia had inked a deal with Pfizer-BioNTech to obtain enough doses of their vaccine when it was approved for around 20% of the population (about 6.5 million people).

In addition, Malaysia also made a commitment by joining the Covax initiative, ensuring adequate doses from this initiative to at least 10% of the population. In fact, just one or two days ago, we also announced that we would be participating in a Phase 3 clinical trial involving about 3,000 people with one of the Chinese vaccines.

Quite a lot of questions have been raised around these decisions. Some are wondering why the government has spent so much money committing to Pfizer-BioNTech or even the Covax initiative for that matter. Some are even asking why we are using our people as test subjects a.k.a. “guinea pigs” in terms of running the clinical trials here.

Not many may understand that vaccines have become the newest instrument in the global diplomacy agenda, and without treading carefully in the area of the Covid-19 vaccine, we may see repercussions in other areas of international relations.

Vaccine diplomacy has long been used as a bargaining tool in the international arena, and has even been used for brokering ceasefires in multiple conflicts. However, in the case of Covid-19, the vaccine may be used as a direct method to bolster ties across nations. China, for example, has stated that a few countries (Malaysia among them) will be among priority recipients of their vaccine.

When provided at highly affordable prices to governments with struggling economies, such vaccines could mean long-term reciprocation from that government in terms of economic and other forms of access. Russia is doing the same. These are the two that have been publicised but honestly, no one knows what other forms of backroom diplomacy has been going on.

Which is why I would say that the government has to very carefully tread these troubled waters, ensuring that we have different avenues of supply from different vaccine manufacturers and at the same time ensure that we are in everyone’s good books.

It’s much too soon to predict a winner in the vaccine race and Malaysia is playing the best game at present by making sure that we are betting on all the possible horses – so that the country and its people can emerge winners.- FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.