No delay of Pfizer vaccines from EU export controls - KJ

 

COVID-19 | Shipments of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine bound for Malaysia will not be delayed by export controls that are being imposed by the European Union (EU), said Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply co-chairperson Khairy Jamaluddin.

This was despite Malaysia not being among the countries exempted from the controls.

Khairy said he had sought clarification from EU Ambassador Michalis Rokas and Belgian Ambassador Pascal Gregoire on the matter, and was given assurance that the vaccines will be delivered on schedule once Pfizer applies for an export authorisation.

“With the assurances of both the EU and Belgian ambassadors, the Covid-19 immunisation plan is expected to proceed according to plan,” he said in a statement today.

The science, technology and innovation minister added that the government had asked Pfizer to request the necessary approval.

Malaysia is due to receive one million doses of the vaccine in the first quarter of this year, with the first shipments arriving on Feb 26.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin

These would be used to immunise 500,000 frontliners battling the outbreak.

In total, Malaysia has ordered 24.28 million doses of the vaccine - named Comirnaty - from Pfizer.

The company has a facility in Puurs, Belgium, that produces the vaccine.

Previously, Pfizer said it had to cut vaccine deliveries to the EU and other countries outside the US while it upgrades the facility, prompting the EU to impose export controls to ensure it would still receive the vaccines it had ordered and would not disrupt its vaccination drive.

The EU measures are in effect from Jan 30 until March 31 but could be extended.

Earlier today, Reuters reported that Japanese minister Taro Kono had said the export curbs could delay the country’s vaccination drive, and warned growing vaccine nationalism could lead to retaliation and disruption to global supplies.

The EU is also targeting AstraZeneca under the same measures, which previously said it would only be able to deliver 25 percent of the 100 million doses the EU expected before the end of March, due to production problems of its plant in Belgium.

Malaysia had ordered 6.4 million vaccine doses from AstraZeneca, but the delivery schedule has not yet been announced.

In addition, Malaysia is ordering another 6.4 million doses of the same vaccine from the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (Covax), which would be exempted from EU export controls. - Mkini