KUALA LUMPUR – Companies can procure and distribute Covid-19 vaccines on their own so long as they meet the country’s regulatory requirements, said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
He said the government will not prohibit the private sector from entering commercial arrangements with vaccine manufacturers, even if they have no involvement in the medical or logistics industry.
“Any private companies can negotiate with foreign firms to be their agents to distribute the vaccines. We can’t control them.
“However, if they don’t get approval from Clinical Research Malaysia and the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency, they can’t bring the vaccines here and conduct clinical trials.
“For us (the government), we can’t stop companies with no experience in medical or logistics, but may want to pivot to these industries, from entering deals,” he said in his ministry’s committee-stage winding-up speech for Budget 2021 in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was replying a question from Kelvin Yii (PH-Bandar Kuching) on reports that MyEG Services Bhd has entered a cooperation with Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical Co Ltd to exclusively distribute the latter’s vaccine in Malaysia for a three-year period.
To a question on whether the ministry will monitor MyEG, considering the company has no experience in distribution, Khairy said: “We won’t give approval to companies with no capacity to maintain the safety and stability of the vaccines.
“However, we do not know if they (MyEG) will be investing or signing a joint venture with firms that are accustomed to transporting vaccines.” – The Vibes, December 7, 2020
