MP claims ministry hiding losses behind Covid vaccine NDA 'shield'

PARLIAMENT | A lawmaker has insisted that revealing total losses incurred from the expiration of nearly 2.8 million Covid-19 vaccine doses will not go against non-disclosure agreements (NDA) with the manufacturers.

Wong Kah Woh (Pakatan Harapan-Taiping) cited the Health Ministry's written response to his question yesterday that revealed a total of 2,796,638 million Covid-19 vaccine doses from various brands have expired in storage.

The government backbencher noted the answer however cited NDAs signed as a reason to not disclose specifics including total losses incurred based on the cost of each vaccine.

"Here, I would like to take this opportunity to inform the minister that I feel disappointed with the answer because every time we touch on the price of vaccine or cost of vaccine procurement, for sure the answer we get will cite the NDAs.

"The ministry has overused it (NDAs) to protect against giving a real figure," Wong (above) told the Dewan Rakyat while debating the Health Ministry's budget today.

Further, Wong, who previously reviewed the NDAs in January 2021 as then Public Accounts Committee chief, said the government was only restricted from revealing the selling price for each Covid-19 vaccine dose.

"If we 'lump sum' all the various brands of vaccine doses, that will not go against terms of the agreements," he said as he insisted on a response from Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa.

Zaliha in her winding-up speech did not respond to Wong's question but promised written replies to all MPs whose questions were also not answered due to time constraints. - Mkini