As variants emerge, Khairy says Pfizer deal covers upgraded vaccines

 

COVID-19 | Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has assured that Malaysia will receive the latest Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to fight various Covid-19 mutations.

This is as the country’s agreement with the US pharmaceutical company includes a clause that ensures access to the most updated vaccines.

The virus that causes Covid-19 mutates and has several variants that have raised concern.

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Khairy said this “variant clause” was also included in agreements with other vaccine manufacturers.

"When I negotiated, I ensured if there was (a vaccine) upgrade based on new (Covid-19) variants, then our existing contract would cover vaccines that are upgraded or new kinds of vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech in light of mutations and variants.

"It is similar to the other vaccine contracts as well," he added.

Aside from Pfizer-BioNTech, the government is buying vaccines from AstraZeneca, Sinovac, CanSinoBio, and Gamaleya's Sputnik V.

Khairy said that Putrajaya was also looking to procure the single-dose Johnson & Johnson Janssen Covid-19 vaccine but did not stipulate the quantum.  

Only the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been approved for use in Malaysia by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA).

Recipients can't choose vaccine type

Khairy, who oversees the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, also explained how vaccines will be distributed.

He assured that only NPRA-approved vaccines will be administered but recipients will not get to choose which type they receive.

"The policy of the government is that whatever vaccine has been approved by the NPRA is safe and efficacious.

"In that sense, you won't be able to choose your vaccine. You will be allotted a time, place, and date for your appointment, and whatever vaccine is available there, I assure you, it will be a safe and efficacious vaccine," he said.

The government is administering vaccines for free to all who choose to register for them, regardless of citizenship status.

Asked if the government will reconsider its policy to not vaccinate pregnant and nursing women, Khairy said the restriction will be lifted only when the Health Ministry was certain it was safe.

The first phase of Covid-19 vaccinations will begin on Feb 26 with medical and non-medical frontliners. The first shipment of Pfizer vaccines is scheduled to arrive this Sunday (Feb 21).

The government has already identified 300,000 medical frontliners who will receive the vaccine, said the minister. However, it is still finalising which non-medical frontliners can be vaccinated first. 

It is also finalising how many vaccines to allocate to each state.

Task force will oversee immunisation

The minister took questions from the press after announcing the formation of the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF).

The task force will coordinate federal, state and local governments to inoculate at least 23.6 million people by February 2022, making it the largest vaccination programme ever undertaken.

Led by Khairy, CITF will be managed by deputy Health director-general (Public Health) Dr Chong Chee Keong and Deputy Armed Forces Chief Lieutenant General Mohammad Ab Rahman.

The CITF will also include “key opinion leaders” and NGO representatives but none were named today.

The minister foresaw logistics as being a key challenge of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme and said “a lot of thought” had gone into the planning.

He added that the government will be launching a “vaccine dashboard” to update the public on the immunisation programme.

“It’s likely that we will put up a public dashboard sometime in March once we are happy with the system and with the initial rollout of the first phase,” he said. - Mkini