KUALA LUMPUR – The Institute for Medical Research Malaysia is in the process of developing two types of Covid-19 jabs – one based on ribonucleic acid (RNA) or messenger RNA (mRNA), and an inactivated vaccine.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba in a Facebook post said this will increase the country’s vaccine capacity, as well as prepare it for future pandemics.
It will accelerate the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme and see the herd immunity target within reach by year-end, he said.
Medical experts previously urged the government to allow other coronavirus vaccines to be used in the national programme.
The National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency has so far approved those made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Sinovac and AstraZeneca.
The World Health Organisation, meanwhile, has also given the green light to vaccines from Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Sinopharm for emergency use.
According to the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, mRNA vaccines teach cells how to make a protein that triggers an immune response in the body, in turn producing antibodies and protecting a person from getting infected if the real virus enters their system.
Inactivated vaccines, on the other hand, use virus that has been killed. – The Vibes, June 14, 2021
