PAC satisfied with govt's Covid-19 vaccine procurement, NDA to be observed

 

The Public Accounts Committee is satisfied with the government's plans to procure Covid-19 vaccines and will observe the non-disclosure agreements (NDA) with the vaccine manufacturers.

This comes after Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, Health Minister Dr Adham Baba and Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah testified before the committee yesterday.

"Overall, the PAC is satisfied with the testimonies and explanations given by Khairy, Adham and Noor Hisham on the procurement and use of Covid-19 vaccines," PAC chief Wong Kah Woh (above) said in a statement yesterday.

The government has been criticised over the clandestine nature of state-big pharma negotiations to procure vaccines.

Critics have questioned whether Putrajaya was overpaying for vaccines.

On the question of NDAs, Wong said such agreements should not, in general, stifle the PAC in carrying out its duties to review government spending.

"However, in this matter, PAC will weigh its role in legislative scrutiny against the NDA requirements in the existing commercial agreements, to ensure that no agreements are breached," he said.

He added that the PAC would also, for the first time, host an exit conference with the Health, and Science, Technology and Innovation ministries before the committee's report is tabled, to ensure the vaccine procurements terms are abided with.

Previously, a leak from Belgium showed that the European country was paying 12 euros (RM59.43) for each dose of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine.

Commenting on this, Khairy hinted that Malaysia had a better deal.

The government plans to vaccinate up to 70 percent of Malaysian adults to achieve herd immunity to Covid-19.

However, Khairy had said that Malaysia has deals in place to procure enough vaccines for the entire adult population.

Besides Pfizer, Malaysia is also getting vaccines from AstraZenec and the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (Covax).

Negotiations are also underway to procure vaccines from companies such as Sinovac. - Mkini