KUALA LUMPUR – Issues relating to Covid-19 vaccine supply faced by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, as claimed by an international media outlet, will not affect the doses for Malaysia, expected to be delivered in the first quarter of next year.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the news report stated that the problem affects only this year’s production.
“I am aware of the supply issues, but the same report also stated that the problem will affect only the supply for 2020. As far as I know, it does not affect the supply for the Malaysian government next year,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to a supplementary question from Fahmi Fadzil (PH-Lembah Pantai) on whether the vaccine supply chain issues as reported by Reuters will affect the doses meant for Malaysia.
If there are disruptions to the supply chain, said Khairy, the government will identify other companies’ vaccine portfolios, as relying on only one firm could lead to the risk of insufficient supply for citizens.
Commenting on the costs that may be incurred in addition to the RM3 billion vaccine allocation, he said any deal with manufacturers will take into account transportation and storage costs, among others.
“Our agreement with Pfizer, for example... the costs we have paid for each dose also cover transportation, which will be borne by the company.”
Replying to the original question, he said two agreements have been signed so far to secure enough doses for 30% of the population.
“The first deal was with the global Covax facility through the optional purchase agreement signed on November 23, which guarantees vaccine supply for 10% of the population, while the second deal was an initial purchase agreement with Pfizer inked on November 24 to provide supply for 20% of the population, or 12.8 million doses.”
The target is to have 70% of Malaysians vaccinated against Covid-19 in the first quarter of next year. – Bernama, December 7, 2020
