Why Pfizer vaccines are for townspeople and AstraZeneca for rural folk

KUALA LUMPUR: The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech would most likely be for urban areas while that by AstraZeneca would be for rural areas, says Khairy Jamaluddin.

The Science, Technology and Innovation Minister said this is because the vaccine doses from Pfizer require extra-low temperatures while the ones by AstraZeneca do not.

Khairy said that currently, the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Committee has decided on 55 locations to store the Pfizer vaccine doses, expected to arrive sometime in February.

The AstraZeneca vaccine doses are expected to arrive sometime in the first quarter of this year, he added.

"There have been lots of concerns about the extraordinary temperatures that Pfizer vaccines must be kept in and whether we have the facilities.

"To that, we have approved the purchase of ultra-low temperature freezers, cold boxes and other related medical supplies for the cold chain and ultra cold chain at RM16.6mil," Khairy told the media after meeting the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday (Jan 5) to explain the government's procurement of the vaccines.

Khairy noted that in the agreement with Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company said it will deliver the vaccines to the point of vaccination while storage responsibilities lie with Malaysia.

"One cold storage freezer costs between RM70,000 and RM80,000," he added.

Khairy said the vaccines will be distributed by the Health Ministry and those found distributing unauthorised ones will face action.

"All vaccines need to be registered and approved by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) under the Health Ministry.

"Those found distributing the vaccines in the black market will be punished by law.

"We will continue to monitor and act swiftly if there are reports," he added.

Khairy, who is Rembau MP, also assured Malaysians that the country is not late in procuring the vaccines.

He said nations such as Australia and South Korea are only receiving the vaccines in March and the third quarter of this year respectively.

"Some asked why Singapore got their vaccines earlier than us but I want to make an important point here, Singapore had a budget of over S$1bil (RM3.04bil) and was able to make multiple bets with Pfizer and other companies for a population of three to four million people.

"We couldn't do that, we have over 30 million people.

"Even Japan is getting the vaccines in February, and Thailand in May, so I don't think we are late," said Khairy.

He added that Indonesia was able to procure the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccines as they were part of phase three clinical trials.