Khairy tells why vaccine supplies have been slow

 

Khairy Jamaluddin, the minister coordinating the immunisation campaign, said vaccine supplies were monopolised by richer countries in the early stages. (Bernama pic)

PUTRAJAYA: The government did not open mega vaccination centres such as stadiums earlier because the supply of Covid-19 vaccine was insufficient then, immunisation coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin said today.

He said the opening of mega vaccination centres (PPV) without enough vaccines would have made the people disappointed with the government for wasting money by opening the mega centres.

“Mega PPV and many others were opened when supplies started arriving to raise the rate of vaccination,” he said at a joint media conference with health minister Dr Adham Baba on  the developments of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.

Commenting on press reports which questioned the slow process of vaccination in Malaysia compared to other countries such as Hungary, Khairy said Hungary is part of the European Union which has negotiated with vaccine suppliers to enable the supply in bulk and the vaccine factories are mostly in the region.

Unfair vaccine distribution

He said the vaccination rate of Malaysia depended on vaccine supply, which is monopolised by countries in the EU. Advanced Asian countries including Japan were also left behind, compared to the EU, US and the UK.

Khairy said the process of vaccination in Malaysia should be compared to Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Philippines where Malaysia was ahead and almost catching up with Japan.

He said the unfair supply of vaccine has long been raised because the UK bought the vaccine five times its population and similarly with Canada.

It was only after advanced countries had achieved herd immunity did countries such as the US, Japan and even China start supplying vaccines, for which Malaysia has been waiting for so long.

Sputnik V, CanSino and J&J

Asked when the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine is expected to get the approval of the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency, Khairy said a government agreement signed with the local distributor, Duopharma (M) Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Duopharma Biotech Bhd, gave the company three months to register the vaccine with the agency.

“I understand NPRA is still looking for information on stability before making any decision,” he said.

Asked about supplies of single-dose vaccines by China-based CanSino and US-based Johnson & Johnson, Khairy said the government is expected to get the first batch of CanSino vaccine next month as its delivery schedule is being finalised.

However, no delivery date for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been received from Covax, the global vaccine distribution network through which Malaysia has chosen to obtain the vaccine.

The CanSino and Johnson & Johnson vaccines were given conditional approval for emergency use by NPRA on June 15. - FMT