KUALA LUMPUR – The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recent rebuke to rich nations not to jump the Covid-19 vaccine queue and forge their own separate deals with manufacturers so that they can be the first to get their hands on vaccines is laudable.
Internationally renowned science communicator Dr Mahaletchumy Arujanan told The Vibes that because this is a huge problem for lower income countries, WHO’s take on the matter is a major and timely lesson for middle-income nations to be scientifically resourceful.
“Countries like Malaysia have disposable incomes to spend on research and development (R&D), especially to find new vaccines, but our priorities do not seem to resonate with the need of the hour and the day.
“We have the experts but our budget for R&D is meagre, fragmented and short term. This is clearly felt during the development of a vaccine during critical times such as now, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It seems that every government wants to showcase its ‘technology’ and make claims of being a developed nation, but no one wants to invest in something where the fruits of their labour will be reaped after 20 years,” said Mahaletchumy, who is also executive director of the Petaling Jaya-based Malaysian Biotechnology Information Centre.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had on Friday told a virtual press conference from Geneva that, right from the outset, wealthier nations had snapped up most of the supply of multiple vaccine products, potentially bumping up the price for everyone else battling the coronavirus pandemic.
Mahaletchumy said the monopoly game, as attested to by WHO, will persist unless something is done to stop it.
“This is a lesson for us and other countries with disposable income to be enlightened.
“It is time for middle-income countries to wake up, pick themselves and work towards being scientifically self-sufficient.
“In Malaysia, we do not lack scientists of calibre but we have failed to develop a booming bio-industry.
“We must not see ourselves as a scientifically left behind nation, but strive to become a fully developed science-savvy nation.” – The Vibes, January 10, 2021
NOTE: Dr Mahaletchumy Arujanan is listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the field of biotechnology by the 7th edition of 'The Scientific American Worldwide View: A Global Biotechnology Perspective Journal'. She is also editor-in-chief of the Malaysian-based The Petri Dish
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