PM: Malaysia pleased to be listed as priority recipient of China's vaccine

KUALA LUMPUR – Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said he was happy that China has placed Malaysia as the priority recipient of its Covid-19 vaccine.

"We are happy to know that we could be getting the vaccine before the end of the year, and our priority is to ensure that we sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China through our Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein," he said in a press conference streamed live on Facebook.

He also said the country is taking a two-pronged approach, including the possibility of joining Covax but at the same time conducting direct negotiations with Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing countries.

Covax is a vaccine allocation plan involving the World Health Organisation (WHO) that aims to disperse Covid-19 vaccines equitably to countries and communities around the world which need it the most.

"The problem about joining Covax is that we have to fork out a large amount of money before we can get a vaccine for our use, and that is a very tight situation," he said.

"We are also in talks with the manufacturers and the Health Ministry will ensure that the vaccine is delivered to us."

Earlier, Bernama reported that China has agreed to list Malaysia as a priority recipient of the China-produced Covid-19 vaccine once it is successfully developed, said Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

The Foreign Minister announced this in a joint news conference after the bilateral meeting with his visiting Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, here, Tuesday.

"We welcome and appreciate China's commitment in providing Malaysia with Chinese-produced Covid-19 vaccines, once successfully developed, and listing Malaysia as a priority recipient,” he said.

“We also welcome China’s agreement to encourage Chinese enterprises to establish all-round cooperation with Malaysian partners in vaccine research and development, and distribution.” 

Elaborating further, Hishammuddin said Malaysia is also monitoring closely the development of the vaccine, adding that getting the vaccine is a matter of high priority of the government.

“If we want to find a way forward in dealing with Covid-19 there are only two ways into it, one is to prevent by vaccination, the other is to cure by medication,” he added.

He said China has announced the vaccine is now being developed in the country and could be ready for use by the general public as early by November. - The Vibes, October 13, 2020