KJ: Three ministries working together to ensure M'sia gets 'first-mover' advantage for Covid-19 vaccines

PETALING JAYA: The Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry, Health Ministry and Wisma Putra have officially collaborated in a joint effort to ensure that Malaysia gets the “first-mover" advantage when Covid-19 vaccines are made available.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the joint effort by the three ministries is important, as there are a few pre-clinical and clinical trials for the Covid-19 vaccine currently taking place in several countries.

According to Khairy, the Health Ministry and the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry are tasked with identifying countries that are developing Covid-19 vaccines and medication.

“This information will be shared with Wisma Putra, where diplomacy will be used to ensure that we are involved in human trials and the production of vaccines, and also for us to receive the vaccines as soon as possible when it’s ready, ” he said.

Khairy was speaking to reporters during a press conference along with Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein at the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry in Putrajaya Tuesday (April 21).

According to Khairy, his ministry is currently collaborating with the Chinese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur on the possibilities of cooperation for Covid-19 vaccine clinical trials.

“A university in China has shown interest in becoming the Ministry’s strategic partner in developing Covid-19 vaccines through clinical research.

“The clinical tests is expected to start at the end of April in Malaysia, ” he said.

Meanwhile, Hishammuddin said several countries such as Bosnia, Turkey, India, Russia, Singapore and some companies from China have expressed interest in collaborating with Malaysia.

According to Hishammuddin, the reason Bosnia agreed to supply hydroxychloroquine was because they were appreciative of Malaysia’s gesture of donating face masks to the country.

Because our relations with Bosnia are very close, they have decided to give us priority for hydroxychloroquine supply, ” he said