MOH to lodge police report against doc's vaccine corruption claim

 

The Health Ministry will be lodging a police report against allegations of corruption in government procurement of the Covid-19 vaccine, first raised by consultant paediatrician Dr Musa Nordin.

In a statement today, it denied Musa's allegation that the government's Special Committee for Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) did not make orders for the Moderna vaccine, and the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) did not register the vaccine, as there were "not enough kickbacks".

"Given that the government has enough portfolio and doses to vaccinate Malaysia's population, the government will make a decision on the need for the (Moderna) vaccine as soon it has been approved by the NPRA, including its use as a booster shot or through heterology," said the ministry.

"The minister views seriously baseless allegations made by Musa. In this case, a police report will be lodged by the ministry so further investigations can be carried out on these serious allegations," it added.

Online portal Malaysia Now recently quoted Musa, who appeared in a public forum with former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and former minister Rafidah Aziz, as claiming "not enough kickbacks" were behind NPRA's non-approval of Moderna.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry said discussions with vaccine manufacturer ModernaTX Inc had been ongoing since the end of last year, with a formal offer made on Dec 6 for enough vaccines to innoculate 10 percent of Malaysia's population. Delivery for the vaccines was scheduled for the third and fourth quarters of this year.

The ministry said JKJAV had deliberated on ModernaTX Inc's offer and after taking into account the later delivery date, a decision was made to procure vaccines from other suppliers to expedite the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.

Further, the ministry said ModernaTX had, upon request, submitted a vaccine registration application with the NPRA last month.

"The NPRA is carrying out its evaluation through a special lane to be presented in a meeting soon," it added. - Mkini