'We may volunteer for third phase trials of Covid-19 vaccine from China'

CORONAVIRUS | Malaysia may volunteer to take part in the third phase of a Covid-19 vaccine trial currently being developed in China, if the results are promising.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that experts from China who are in Malaysia now have informed the ministry that the country is currently working on phase two of clinical trials, with results expected in November or December.

"If the results are positive they'll move to the third phase of trials and Malaysia perhaps will volunteer so we can do the clinical research here, but we'll need to look at the results from the phase two trial," he said.

Noor Hisham was speaking at the ministry's daily press conference in Putrajaya today.

In general, the first phase of a vaccine's clinical trial involves a handful of healthy volunteers to assess the safety of the vaccine candidate and see if it provokes an immune response.

The second phase involves a larger group of volunteers. It provides preliminary data on the vaccine candidate's efficacy, and helps determine how it should be administered and to develop a suitable immunisation schedule.

The third phase is the final phase before a vaccine can be approved for use.

It involves an even larger number of volunteers to help detect rare side effects and to further study its efficacy.

Previously Noor Hisham had revealed that Malaysia was in discussions with several countries regarding vaccines, including two companies from China.

However, he said it was too early to divulge any details.

A team of medical experts from China had arrived in Malaysia last week, to share their expertise in fighting Covid-19.

At present, the number of new infections in Malaysia has been in the double digits for eight consecutive days, while 64 percent of patients have been cured.

Experts have warned that until a vaccine is developed, social distancing must be observed to avoid infections - even after lockdown measures are eased. - Mkini